Priest booked for 8-year-old girl’s murder

An eight-year-old girl became a victim of suspected human sacrifice in a village of Bengal’s Malda district, hours after she was last seen alive in the company of a local priest known to be involved in occult practices. The state in which the girl was found - with her throat slit, forehead smeared with sindoor and petals sticking to her blood-soaked body - led villagers to allege that accused Bikram Bhagat murdered her as part of some ritual. Police said Bhagat was critically injured and unconscious in hospital after being assaulted by a mob.