PRAYAGRAJ, Aug. 28 -- In a crime driven by superstition, a property dealer in Prayagraj allegedly chopped his 17-year-old grandnephew into pieces after allegedly being misled by a tantrik (occultist) who told him that sacrificing a youth would remove "planetary defects" and save his family from further tragedy, police said on Thursday.

Police said the accused, Sharan Singh of Kareli locality near Sadiapur Gurudwara, lured his grandnephew, a Class 11 student, into his house on Tuesday morning while the boy was on his way to school. After gagging him, Singh dragged him into a room, performed rituals by chanting mantras as advised by the tantrik, and then him, they added. "The accused later chopped the body into pieces, packed them separate...