Man Beheads Wife and Father in West Bengal Over Occult Rituals
1-Click Audio Report (Universal Voice)

In Bankura, West Bengal, a man brutally beheaded his wife and father with an axe in the name of occult rituals during Maha Ashtami. He was arrested by police while carrying his wife's severed head to a temple.
- A gruesome double murder occurred on Maha Ashtami night in Bankura, West Bengal.
- The accused, Mangal Chowdhury, hacked his wife and father to death with an axe.
- He offered his wife's severed head at a temple altar before being apprehended by police.
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In a chilling incident on the evening of Maha Ashtami, a man named Mangal Chowdhury brutally beheaded his wife Rampa Chowdhury and father Rajendra Chowdhury with an axe in Bankura, West Bengal. Panic gripped local residents when the accused was seen walking toward a temple carrying his wife's severed head. Alerted by the community, Sonamukhi police acted swiftly and arrested him at the scene.
According to police and local sources, the killings were executed under the superstition of offering human sacrifices during the auspicious Sandhi Puja. Mangal attacked his father in the courtyard before beheading his wife inside the house. In a disturbing ritual, he sliced his own finger to smear blood onto his wife's severed head before offering it at the temple altar. Police recovered the murder weapon and both bodies from the site.
The horrific double murder sent shockwaves throughout the region. After treating the wound on his finger, police produced the accused before the Bankura district court, which granted a 10-day police remand. During initial questioning, Mangal confessed that he carried out the murders as part of an occult ritual. Investigators are now probing whether a local priest or occult practitioner instigated the crime.
While traditional Sandhi Puja rituals involve symbolic offerings such as gourds or sugarcane, this act of extreme superstition has left the community outraged and grieving. Local residents have demanded strict punishment for anyone tied to the tragedy, calling for urgent social awareness against dark superstitions.
“Such gruesome murders driven by occult rituals expose the dangerous lingering roots of blind superstition in contemporary society. Strict legal consequences and community-level awareness are vital to prevent the radical distortion of religious traditions.”
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