Woman 'sacrifices' nephew

AMRITSAR: Black magic continues to exert its ominous influence on the gullible folk of rural Punjab. The recent arrest of two ���tantriks��� or black magicians Satnam Singh and Harbhajan Singh of Daoke and Bacchiwind villages, respectively, has yet again exposed the inhuman face of the region.
On the alleged advise of these two self-proclaimed black magicians, the issueless Satbir Kaur of Daokae village threw her sister-in-law Kulwinder Kaur���s infant son Harsimran Singh in a gutter under the veil of darkness.What���s shocking though is the fact that the child���s maternal grandmother, Sukhdev Kaur, knew of the goings-on and she too has been arrested for the gruesome crime.
SP (D) of Amritsar Surjit Singh Mattu, who carried out the investigations, told TOI on Thursday that Gurvinder Singh, along with his wife Kulwinder Kaur, son Harsimran Singh and mother Ninder Kaur, had gone to his in-laws��� house at Daokae village at the Indo-Pak border on March 3. They had reportedly gone there for a traditional ceremony to celebrate Harsimran���s birth.
"In the wee hours of March 4, Kulwinder heard her son cry. She found her brother���s wife Satbir holding him and she was ready to take him outside," said Mattu, adding that Satbir told her sister-in-law that since Harsimran was crying, she was going to walk him. The child was found missing the next day. Suspecting foul play by her sister-in-law, Kulwinder reported the matter to the police, who found the baby���s body in a gutter.
During investigations, it was revealed that Harsimran, who had been married for nearly one-and-a-half years, was issueless. To seek help, she used to frequent ���tantriks��� Satnam Singh and Harbhajan Singh in nearby villages. The two reportedly practised witchcraft and advised her to sacrifice a male child if she wanted a baby of her own.
Mattu said all the accused, including the two black magicians, Satbir Kaur and Sukhdev Kaur, had been arrested and investigations were on to find out who else had been thus 'advised' by the 'tantriks'.