BBC News Online: World: South Asia

Baby boy sacrificed in north India

Police in northern India have arrested five members of a family and accused them of sacrificing a young boy to invoke the help of the Hindu goddess of wealth, Laxmi.

The family, from a remote area of Uttar Pradesh, is reported to have told police they were following a magician's advice that sacrificing a baby boy of the highest Hindu caste would bring them wealth.

Indian police recovered the decapitated body of the two-year-old from a village pond, and say they have sent reinforcements to the area in case of retaliatory caste violence.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service