In Garkhara, a village about 30 km from Varanasi, a family had beheaded senior most member of their house - Ramchandra Chauhan – as an offering to the Devi (Goddess) ... Family members ate the flesh. And they did all this simply to please their deity on the occasion of Chaitra Navratra ... There are two versions on the gruesome act. A few villagers said it was done on the advice of an ojha, while others said that Meena, the wife of deceased's eldest son Ram Sevak, had got instructions from Devi to offer a human being.

First the family members decided to offer three-year-old Laxmi, daughter of Ram Sevak ... However, some villagers said ... Meena ... ordered her husband to cut her tongue and present it as offering. When Ram Sevak cut her tongue, Meena said Devi was not happy yet and wanted a human sacrifice. The ... Ram Sevak beheaded his father with Gharasi (a sharp-edged weapon).

 ... The police (have) arrested all the three sons of the deceased - Ram Sevak, Shiv Badan and Bashisth, wife Kevala Devi and daughter-in-law Meena ...  (Source: The Pioneer, 5 April, 1998)