Syed Zarir Hussain

Guwahati, February 7

Police in the northeast Indian state of Tripura have called in a sorcerer to trace some stolen money after investigators failed to find any clues leading to the missing cash.

A cashier with Tripura Police in Udaipur withdrew Rs 400,000 from a bank on January 31 for payment of salaries to personnel of the transport wing. After disbursing Rs 57,000, the cashier, Nihar Deb, kept the remaining amount at his official residence. Deb was put behind bars after he reported that the remaining Rs 343,000 had vanished form his house on February 1. A team of policemen conducted a thorough investigation before finally giving up the search. On Wednesday, police in Udaipur sought the services of a sorcerer who claims to possess supernatural powers.

The sorcerer, Haricharan Acharjee, performed some rituals and set out with a "sacred stick" to look for the missing cash. After some hours of wandering the streets of Udaipur with some cops following him, the sorcerer stopped in front of a local bank and announced the money was deposited at the bank and he was not in a position to tell anything beyond that. The farce ended with the police sending the sorcerer back with a token fee.