Indian police are investigating a suspected case of human sacrifice

Police in India are investigating a suspected case of human sacrifice after the severed head and naked torso of a man were found at a temple to the goddess Kali in the state of West Bengal. Human sacrifice in India endures in grizzly secret ceremonies. Kali, the Hindu goddess of time and change, is often portrayed as insatiably bloodthirsty, wearing a necklace of bleached human skulls. Historically, her followers formed blood-cults, hoping to receive blessings of fertility, health and wealth in return for human lives. Such beliefs persist, especially in underdeveloped, rural areas where people desperate to improve their circumstances turn to witchdoctors for advice. Recently a three-year-old boy was murdered as a child sacrifice in the state of Uttar Pradesh by a tantric priest. It was the second such murder of a child in two months in the same district. In October 2009, two senior scientists at the Government-run Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) in the city of Gwalior tried to kill a junior colleague in another human sacrifice bid.