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Andhra girl dies after father stuffs her mouth with vermillion as part of ritual
A police officer said that Venugopal started performing the ritual in his puja room on Wednesday morning
A 32-year-old man was on Thursday arrested in Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore district for murder and witchcraft after his four-year-daughter died hours after he allegedly stuffed her mouth with vermillion as part of a ritual.
Police said Kanda Venugopal, the accused, was disturbed since suffering business losses. They added he brought his wife and two daughters back from his in-laws’ house to perform a puja to drive away evil forces that he believed caused him losses.
A police officer said on Wednesday morning, Venugopal started performing rituals in his puja room. He called his daughters and started sprinkling turmeric water on them. “Suddenly, he stuffed some vermillion into the mouth of one of his daughters and forced her to gulp it. When the girl started choking and crying loudly, he throttled her ...she fell unconscious.”
The girl was rushed to a local hospital before she was referred to Chennai for better treatment. “...in Chennai, she succumbed on Thursday morning,” the police officer said.
