An occultist in Bihar has sent the Begusarai authorities into a tizzy with an "application" seeking permission for human sacrifice to propitiate his deity.
In a video that was shared widely, the occultist purportedly claimed that human sacrifice is not a crime and he is going to sacrifice his son, an engineer, first.
Surendra Prasad Singh, who resides in Mohanpur Pahadpur village under Mofussil Police Station area, wrote the letter to Sub Divisional Officer (Sadar), Begusarai on January 29.
Screenshots of the purported letter have gone viral on social media, but the SDO Sanjiv Kumar Chaudhary said he had not received it.
This is a serious matter. Human sacrifice is illegal. We have launched a hunt for the letter as well as the tantrik. Appropriate action will be taken," he said.
The letter has been drafted on the letterhead of a unknown organization "Bindu Maa Manav Kalyan Sanstha", which Mr Singh claims to head. He said it was registered under the Societies Registration Act.
A video clip in which he is speaking about his letter to local journalists, has also been doing rounds.
"Human sacrifice is not a crime. I have been ordered to perform the same by Goddess Kamakhya. And the first person I shall be sacrificing is my son, an engineer by profession, who refuses to give financial aid to my temple. He is like Ravana," Mr Singh is shown as saying in the video.
Residents of the village say Mr Singh is known as "Pagla baba" (crazy godman) because of his wayward behaviour which includes often walking around naked or carrying a human skull in his hand.
They said he is in the habit of doing things to get publicity and this may be yet another gimmick.
But given his unstable temperament, we are now scared as our children could be an easy prey, villagers Sudhir Kumar, Ajay Kumar and Prabhat Kumar said.