Bhubaneswar, Aug. 21 -- Police arrested five people on Friday in connection with an alleged human sacrifice ritual, a day after a 40-year-old man's headless body was found in Odisha's Balangir district, police said.

Police officers said Santosh Kharsel's body was found near a pond in Bagada village on Thursday and that the killing is suspected to have been driven by the belief that human sacrifice would bring wealth, prosperity and well-being to the accused's family.

The five people arrested in connection with Kharsel's murder, a resident of Tebada Munda village, include Shatrughna Sahu, his mother, brother and sister-in-law.

"Sahu had been performing occult rituals at his house for some time, worshipping a stone and a copper serpent i...