The state of Gujarat in western India was shocked upon hearing the news of a husband and wife committing suicide by decapitation as part of a gory sacrificial ritual. The couple’s family members reported that they had been offering prayers in their hut every day since last year.
A man and his wife allegedly committed suicide by decapitating themselves using a guillotine-like device at their farm in Vinchhiya village in #Gujarat's Rajkot district. #Crimehttps://t.co/F242T3Q916
— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) April 17, 2023
Authorities found the couple's headless bodies in their hut in the Vinchhiya village in Gujarat’s Rajkot district. Police said on April 16th that the two performed their suicidal ritual using a guillotine-like device they created at home.
The man was identified as 38-year-old Hemubhai Makwana. His wife, Hansaben, was 35 years old when the two beheaded themselves using the blade of their self-made device at their farm in the Vinchhiya village.
Gujarat: Couple behead themselves as a part of black magic, made sure heads roll into fire after their death
https://t.co/v4TuLgqwvF— OpIndia.com (@OpIndia_com) April 17, 2023
According to Vinchhiya police sub-inspector Indrajeetsinh Jadeja, the husband and wife duo deliberately planned the ritual, adding that the couple executed it so that their severed heads would roll into the fire altar after the beheading. Jadeja also added that authorities also found a suicide note on the spot.
"The couple first prepared a fire altar before putting their heads under a guillotine-like mechanism held by a rope. As soon as they released the rope, an iron blade fell on them, severing their heads, which rolled into the fire," Jadeja narrated.
The ritual was said to be performed between the night of April 15th and the afternoon of April 16th when the police were informed. The couple left behind their two children, parents, and relatives living nearby. Jadeja said their relatives told the police about the ritual upon learning about the incident.
Seems more like they were under possession. Quite possible
— Sanskar Rao (@SanskarBarot) April 17, 2023
In the suicide note the police recovered on the scene, the couple told their relatives to care for their parents and children. According to Jadeja, the bodies were sent for post-mortem, and the incident was registered as accidental death.
Who ever is the idiot who told them to do this should be booked for murder
— swetha (@swetha587213001) April 17, 2023
Fire is considered sacred in Hinduism and is often essential in many worship rituals.
India is no stranger to human sacrifice rituals. Between 2014 and 2021, official data recorded 100 incidents of ritual human sacrifice, often made to please gods.
Earlier this April, Indian authorities arrested five men for killing a woman in 2019 as part of a ritual human sacrifice in a Hindu temple in Guwahati in the northeastern state of Assam.
