A chilling case of human sacrifice has emerged from Bihar’s Aurangabad district, where a 65-year-old man, Yugal Yadav, was allegedly beheaded and his torso incinerated in a ‘Holika Dahan’ fire as part of a black magic ritual, police revealed. The gruesome act, uncovered after a two-week investigation, has led to the arrest of four suspects, with the prime accused, a tantric, still at large.

Aurangabad Superintendent of Police Ambrish Rahul briefed reporters Friday, detailing how the case unraveled. On March 13, Madanpur police received a missing person report for Yadav, a resident of Gulab Bigha village. A special team was formed, and clues soon pointed to human bones found in the ashes of a Holika Dahan fire in nearby Banger village. “We recovered charred bones and Yadav’s slippers at the site,” Rahul said. A dog squad then led investigators to the home of Ramashish Rikyasan, a local tantric.

Though Rikyasan had fled, his relative Dharmendra was detained. Under questioning, Dharmendra confessed that he and others had abducted and decapitated Yadav for a ritual orchestrated by Rikyasan. “The torso was burned in the fire, and the severed head was dumped in a field, which we later recovered,” Rahul added. Dharmendra further admitted the group, acting on behalf of Sudhir Paswan—who sought a child through the rite—had previously sacrificed a teenager, disposing of the body in a local well.

Four individuals, including Paswan and Dharmendra, have been arrested, alongside a minor taken into custody. Police seized the murder weapon and sent the bones for DNA testing. A manhunt is underway for Rikyasan, the alleged mastermind. The case has stunned the region, spotlighting the persistence of occult practices despite legal crackdowns under Bihar’s anti-superstition laws. As investigations deepen, authorities are bracing for more revelations in this macabre tale of ritualistic horror.