JANAKPURDHAM: Dhanusha Police have made public a man arrested on the charge of murdering a two-and-a-half-year-old boy in the district, on Thursday.

The body of the child had been discovered on May 7. He had gone missing since the afternoon of May 6. The deceased was identified as Aryan Sah, son of Shambhu Sah, a resident of Dhalkebar in Mithila Municipality-6.

Police arrested Shatrughan Mahato, a local shaman, from his own house in Mithila-6, on Wednesday. Mahato killed the child as a "sacrifice to attain power", as revealed through police investigation.

Grandfather of the child, Pitambar Sah, filed a report with police stating that Mahato was responsible for the death of his grandson. On the basis of this, Mahato has been put under judicial custody for further investigations.

According to the chief at Dhanusha District Police Office, Superintendent of Police (SP) Shekhar Khanal, a sharp weapon used in the murder was confiscated from Mahato's possession along with the clothes he was wearing during the incident. He added that three weeks had lapsed while investigating the case.

SP Khanal informed, investigations showed that Mahato had killed the child in cold blood around 2:00 in the morning of May 7 by slitting his throat and had thereafter disposed his body in somebody else's field. Khanal said, the shaman had taken away the child while his mother had gone out into the fields to work.

The investigation had been jointly carried out by Area Police Office-Dhalkebar, Dhanusha District Police Office, Federal Police Unit-Janakpurdham, and Province 2 Police Office. Moreover, SP Khanal said that the investigation was also supported by an investigation team of Province 3 Police.