KANPUR: In a gruesome incident, a six-year-old girl was allegedly gangraped, killed after which the killers then took her lungs out for black magic purposes, police said on Monday. Her body was found in a jungle near Bhadras village in Uttar Pradesh district on Sunday. Apparently the lungs were removed to perform black magic, believing that it will help a woman give birth to a child, they said.

The girl had gone missing on the night of Diwali from the Ghatampur area. The killers Ankul Kuril (20) and Beeran (31) who were arrested on Sunday, had removed her lungs and delivered those to key conspirator Parshuram Kuril to perform black magic, ASP (Rural) Brajesh Srivastava said.

Parshuram was arrested on Monday and his wife was also detained under the doubt that she knew about the incident, but did not talk about it to anyone, the officer added.

Parshuram initially tried to mislead the police, but after interrogation, broke down and confessed to his crime, the ASP said. Parshuram told the police that he got married in 1999 but had not had a child so far, he said. He persuaded his nephew, Ankul, and his friend Beeran, to kidnap the girl and remove her lungs, the ASP said.

Ankul and Beeran, who were heavily drunk, abducted the girl while she had gone out of her home in Bhadras village on Saturday night to buy firecrackers, he added. They took her to a nearby jungle, where they allegedly raped the girl before killing her.They then extracted her lungs and gave it to Parshuram.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has taken note of the heinous crime and directed officials to take strict action against the accused. He has also directed the officials to extend a financial help of Rs five lakh to the victim's family. (Inputs fromPTI)