A mutilated body of a nine-year-old boy cut into six pieces was found at a vacant plot near his house in Karnail Singh Nagar of Dugri area of Ludhiana on Tuesday.
The victim, identified as Deepu, has been missing since Monday, his father Dalip Singh, a labourer, said.
He said someone spotted his son’s body crammed into a sack kept at a plot, 60 metre away from their residence.
The police suspected human sacrifice and registered a murder case against unidentified accused.
Deputy commissioner of police (DCP-investigation) Bhupinder Singh Sidhu said both arms and head of the child were chopped off from torso. It could be a case of personal enmity, but human sacrifice cannot be ruled out, he said.
He added that the police were scanning CCTV cameras installed in the area to trace the accused.