Love for chutney costs man his tongue

The young man had to part with his tongue in return of the tasty dish.

A weakness for a tasty chutney prepared by a female relative and neighbour cost a young man here dearly as he lost his tongue, the police said Monday.

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Acting on the advice of a tantric or witch doctor, Rajammal, 43, of Nachiampatti village near here invited Venkatachalam, her 27-year-old nephew living next door, for a meal Sunday in which she served him the chutney laced with drugs, the police said.

When the man lost consciousness, she snipped off two centimetres of his tongue and offered it to god as part of her worship in her house while blood oozed out of her nephew's mouth.

"The woman is said to have applied the blood like vermilion marks on her and her son's foreheads - an act she believed would make her rich," a police official said.

"When the wounded man began screaming, neighbours came and rushed Venkatachalam to a private hospital. Though the man may never be able to speak properly ever again, there is no immediate danger to his life," he said.

The mother-son duo was arrested and the police are on the lookout for the tantric in and around Salem, a textile town 375 km southwest of Tamil Nadu capital Chennai.