On 1 May, 1998, the police arrested four members of a family for allegedly sacrificing a seven-year-old boy to a local deity at Gulunda village about 12 km from Sambalpur (Orissa).

... The boy, Mithun ... went to bathe in the village pond on April 25 and did not return home.

Later, the body ... was discovered near a mango tree by his father ... During ... investigation, the police recovered the blood stained clothes of the boy and a blood spattered plate from one Jharu Bereha's house. The police later arrested Jharu Bereha, his wife Golapi Bereha and their sons - Gangaram and Jenamani on the basis of the information received from two bonded labourers working in the Bereha family. On interrogation Golapi confessed to the brutal crime ... The boy was. sacrificed before the local deity ... on the belief that the family would receive a huge sum of money and property ....           (Source: The Hindustan Times, 2 May, 1998)