Tigress killed for tantric rites?

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, DEC. 25. Having failed to achieve a breakthrough in unravelling the mystery behind the killing of the tigress Sakhi in the Nehru Zoological Park here on October 4, the Hyderabad police are now probing whether the killing was carried out to collect its blood for use in tantric rites.

Talk of the animal being killed for a `homam' or a puja have been doing the rounds for some time, but the police did not give credence to it earlier.

With a nil-progress report, the police have now started investigating this line.

A close relative of a top Tamil Nadu politician is said to have performed a `homam' at the Bhadrakali temple in Warangal on October 5, a day after Sakhi was found killed.

According to a top official, the police team collected samples from the site and sent them for chemical analysis to find out whether Sakhi's blood was used. A final report from the State Forensic Sciences Laboratory (FSL) is awaited.

The police team found out from the temple priests that the `homam' was performed by a person from Tamil Nadu, but are yet to locate him. ``We do not know whether the `homam' was performed with Sakhi's blood. We are awaiting analysis reports,'' sources maintained.

Performing homams with the blood of animals is stated to be a general practice to propitiate Goddess Kali.

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Section  : Southern States
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