To acquire magical powers though human sacrifice, a person, aided by three accomplices including a sorcerer, killed his four-year-old nephew in Kalahandi district.

"All the four, including the sorcerer, a priest of a local temple and a villager, have been arrested after they confessed to the crime," Kalahandi superintendent of police Safin Ahmed told reporters on Sunday evening.

When the sorcerer advised that there was a need to sacrifice a boy, Jarbi Gahir, a Dalit, kidnapped his nephew Ajit. He put his plans into action on November 2, when the boy was playing in front of his house, about 500 km southwest of Bhubaneswar.

He strangled the boy, amputated his arms and head and dumped the body in a nearby forest.

When the body was recovered three days later, the police, with the help of a dog squad, found the boy's head and amputated arms.

After interrogating several persons, the police zeroed in on the boy's uncle and the three others.