In a shocking incident, a Class 2 student was "sacrificed" in a "black magic" ritual to bring "success" to the school in Uttar Pradesh's Hathras.
The child's body was discovered in the car of director of the DL Public School, Rasgawan.
Police have arrested five people, including the director of the school Dinesh Baghel, his father Jasodhan Singh and three teachers - Laxman Singh, Veerpal Singh, and Ramprakash Solanki.
The student, identified as Kritarth, was abducted from the school's hostel on September 23. However, as the boy woke up and started crying, he was strangulated, reported PTI, quoting Ashok Kumar Singh, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP).
Police said the postmortem report of the student revealed that he was strangled.
Jasodhan Singh, who believe in 'tantrik rituals', asked his son Dinesh Baghel to sacrifice a child for the "prosperity" of the school and his family, the police said.
Police further said that the accused told the boy's parents that Kritarth was not well and was being taken to a hospital in Baghel's car.
Family members of the child, however, stopped the car and informed police about Kritarth's death, police said.
Several reports claimed that the accused had earlier tried to sacrifice another student few days back, but had failed.