Banamati (Indian witch craft) incident from 2005

 A chilling account of this witchcraft practice from India which occurred in 2005.


A six-year-old girl was kidnapped, skinned alive and then beheaded.

GULBARGA: Salitha, six-year-old daughter of a Dalit couple at Khajuri village in Aland taluk of Gulbarga district, has become the latest victim of the bizarre rituals of the practitioners of Banamati, a form of black magic practised in this region. 

Study team

A team from two social organisations, Bharata Jyana Vigyan Samiti and Samudaya, that visited the village to study the mysterious death of Salitha a couple of days ago has come out with details of how the girl was done to death after being kidnapped allegedly by the henchmen of the practitioners of Banamati.

The members of the team included president of the samiti K. Lingappa, its secretary Shivasharana Malegaon, president of Samudaya Shankarayya Ghanti and its secretary Srishail Gooli.

They told presspersons here on Wednesday that Salita, who was kidnapped on November 6, was killed by Banamati practioners. 

Head not recovered

Mr. Gooli said the police were yet to recover the head of Salita.

The torso was recovered from an agricultural field on the outskirts of Khajuri village on November 10.

Inspection of the decomposed body revealed that the culprits had first cut her little finger on her right hand, removed her skin from the shoulder to the hip even as was alive and then beheaded her, Mr. Gooli said.

Later, the killers cut the right hip, thigh bone and right arm before leaving the body to rot in the field, Mr. Gooli pointed out. 

Rituals

It is said that Banamati practioners use the bones, the little finger of the victim and the head of the victim in the night long rituals in secluded spots. Salita, who was born at an auspicious time on a Sunday six years ago, was kidnapped on a Sunday. 

Third victim

Mr. Gooli said Salita was the third girl to fall victim to Banamati rituals in the district in the past one year and the police despite having evidence of the large presence of Banamati practioners and their henchmen have not acted against them.

Last year, a girl was murdered at Honnakiranagi in Gulbarga taluk, and in April this year another young girl died in a mysterious fire accident at Mantigi village, which is just 8 km away from Khajuri village. While the police arrested a few persons in the Honnakiranagi case, all those arrested were released on bail. In the Mantigi case, the police belatedly booked a case of murder after the samiti and Samudaya built up pressure on them and the incident gained publicity after it appeared in newspapers. 

Accused yet to be arrested

However, Shivamma, the main accused in the case, is yet to be arrested.

The police have also not registered a case against Pujar, who is allegedly the main conspirator in the Mantigi case.

Even in the case of death of Salita, the police initially did not book a missing person's case when the parents approached them. 

`Police indifferent'

The samiti and Samudaya members said the indifferent attitude of the police in dealing with the Banamati menace had emboldened its practitioners.

They said the police should immediately act against those practising Banamati in the district.

 http://www.hindu.com/2005/11/17/stories/2005111715210500.htm

India: Eat human flesh in rituals to find hidden treasure

This is really wierd and strange. Read for yourself, the following article from the Times of India.

In what could be termed as an advanced form of banamati or sifli ilm, members of a nameless sect have made eating human flesh a part of the pujas they perform to find hidden treasures.

The human flesh comes in a package along with other articles required for a special puja. The samagri, as the package is called, which includes a 100 gm piece of roasted human flesh, is reportedly supplied to members of the sect through some agents in Hyderabad. "Maas to samagri ke sath hi aati hai (the flesh comes with the samagri)," Boudhey, a member of the secret sect, told The Times of India.

Boudhey is presently involved in a puja on the periphery of Dadgi village in Humnabad taluk of Bidar district. Though the sect is still in the initial stages of formation, its practices are considered much more dangerous than banamati and sifli ilm, the two notorious forms of black magic in the area that falls in the erstwhile Hyderabad state. Most of the members of this new sect reportedly hail from Hyderabad, Medak and Bidar districts.

But as the special puja must be performed only at a secluded place, they hire houses in small villages in Medak and Bidar districts. Most times, they are forced to leave the place once the villagers learn about their activities. In some instances, alleged performers of this weird ritual have been killed by villagers on suspicion of being practitioners of banamati.

Since 1999, seven such suspected practitioners were killed by villagers in Medak district while 12 others were forced to leave the villages. Despite resistance, followers of new sect manage to rent small houses to perform the puja. The 40-day ritual, it is learnt, starts on a new moon day which falls on a Sunday. At the conclusion of the puja, they believe, a supernatural figure that looks exactly like the person performing the puja appears and leads him to the hidden treasure.

But to ensure success in the puja the ritual performer has to eat human flesh. If he fails in the first attempt, another puja of the same duration is conducted, this time with a greater quantity of flesh.

The first incident that gave rise to suspicions of human flesh-eating practice came to light about six months ago in Hallargaon village in Bidar district. Some villagers stormed the house of a person in the village on suspicion that he was practising `banamati. They were shocked to find a few human bones and pieces of roasted flesh. "He was an outsider and he never returned to the village," Abdul Haneef, a villager said.

Please note the word "banamati". Chances are you will be seeing and learning more about it in future posts in this blog. Its a form of black magic practiced in southern India. Everything from revenge against somebody to treasure hunting is rumored to be possible with the help of banamati. Wierd superstition or fact? You decide.