Hoping to get ‘hidden treasure’, family burns elderly member to death in Bihar | Patna News – Times of India

PATNA: An elderly villager was burnt to death by his own family members in Bihar’s Kishanganj district out of “belief” that his sacrifice would help them lay their hands on hidden treasure and they would become richer at once, police said on Wednesday.

The bizarre incident took place at Dulali village under Bahadurganj police station on Tuesday evening but the police confirmed it on Wednesday.
Police said the family members of the deceased Mohammad Kalimuddin had fallen into the trap of a local Tantrik who informed them about the former owning a hidden treasure full of gold and precious jewels.

Subsequently, they kept on putting pressure on the victim to reveal the whereabouts of hidden treasure but all the time he flatly denied having any information regarding the treasure, which irked his family members.
Eventually, they wrapped the victim with used clothes and doused him with petrol before setting him on fire on Tuesday evening. Very soon, he went up in flames. Hearing his cries, the local villagers rushed to the spot but by the time they reached there, he was dead.
Soon after getting the information, the Bahadurganj police rushed to spot and asked the family members about the reason behind setting him on fire.
“One of his sons told us that they burnt him to death since his death will fill our home with gold and precious jewels,” Bahadurganj police station sub-inspector Pushpa Kumari told the TOI on Wednesday, describing it as a case of superstition. She said all the family members appeared “mentally sick”.
The police have recovered the body of the victim and sent it for postmortem. The police are waiting for the return of the victim’s other son who works outside the state. “We will act only after a formal FIR is registered in this case. We are waiting for his son’s return,” another police official said.