In Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, 17-year-old high school student Piyush (also known as Yash) was reported missing on August 26 after leaving home for school and failing to return. Police initiated a search and subsequently discovered a severed torso wrapped in a saree inside a drain in the Yamunapar industrial area. CCTV footage scoured across 50 cameras identified a purple scooter driven by Piyush's grand-uncle, Saran Singh (also referred to in official reports as Karan/Sharan Singh). Police arrested Saran Singh on August 27 and recovered a hacksaw, a cleaver, cash, and remaining dismembered body parts. Interrogation revealed that after losing his daughter and son to suicide in 2023 and 2024, Saran consulted an occultist who convinced him that Piyush's grandmother had cast black magic on his household. Believing that performing a human sacrifice of his grand-nephew would lift the curse and restore his family, Saran lured Piyush into his house, struck him with a brick, smothered him with a pillow, dismembered his body into six pieces while chanting occult mantras, and dispersed the body parts across multiple locations.
Country: India
State/Province: Uttar Pradesh, India
City/Region: Prayagraj
Incident Type: Family Homicide
Relationship Status: Unknown
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Incident Date: Aug. 26, 2025
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2025-08-26
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English labels are shown first. Original-language titles are preserved for source verification.
Crime Tak - India · Original language: Hindi
मंत्र पढ़ते हुए दादा ने 17 साल के पौते का सिर धड़ से किया अलग, टुकड़ों को Pack कर सड़क पर घुमता रहा
Family Conflict
The incident stems from deep-seated extended family conflict combined with extreme superstition and unaddressed grief. Following the suicides of his two adult children within a single year, the perpetrator harbored severe resentment toward his sister-in-law (the victim's grandmother), blaming her for practicing witchcraft against his household. Encouraged by an occultist, he translated this paranoid blame into a targeted murder of her 17-year-old grandson.
Prayagraj Police under Police Station Kareli initially registered a kidnapping/missing minor case. Following the recovery of an unidentified dismembered torso in a drain under Industrial Police Station (Yamunapar), police cross-referenced CCTV footage across 50 cameras on Mirzapur Road. Video captured Saran Singh transporting the bundle on a purple scooter. Police arrested Saran Singh on August 27, recovering a hacksaw, cleaver, cash, and additional body parts. Police teams have been formed to track and arrest the involved occultist. Note that while this incident involves extended family, it does not appear to be primarily intimate relationship-driven.
Initial confusion arose because the missing youth report was filed at Kareli Police Station, while an unidentified torso wrapped in a saree was discovered miles away in a drain under Industrial Police Station. Investigators initially could not confirm whether the torso belonged to the missing minor until CCTV tracking and forensic analysis linked the suspect's scooter to both locations.
On August 26, 2025, around 8:30 AM, Piyush left home for school. Saran Singh intercepted him nearby and lured him into his residence. Inside, Saran struck Piyush on the head with a brick. When Piyush began regaining consciousness during an occult ritual, Saran smothered him to death with a pillow. Chanting mantras, Saran used a hacksaw to sever Piyush's head and a cleaver to cut off his limbs. He cleaned the crime scene with 4 liters of perfume and 100 incense sticks, packed the body parts into polythene bags and a saree, and transported them on his purple scooter to dispose of them across three separate locations. CCTV tracking led police to arrest Saran on August 27.
The case highlights extreme risk associated with unaddressed severe psychological trauma, intense grief, and belief in occult remedies. The perpetrator displayed methodic escalation, conducting a month of surveillance, purchasing lethal tools in advance, executing a violent assault, dismembering the victim, and attempting post-offense misdirection while interacting with the grieving family.
Severe unaddressed trauma coupled with superstitious belief systems can lead to extreme violence within extended family structures. Rapid police coordination, rigorous review of public CCTV footage, and prompt witness reporting were essential in resolving the missing minor report and apprehending the offender within 24 hours.
A crucial early signal was Saran's sudden behavior change over the preceding month, during which he repeatedly intercepted and engaged Piyush on his daily commute to school under the guise of building familiarity.
Key clues included witness testimony from a woman who spotted a middle-aged man on a purple scooter dumping a saree-wrapped bundle into a local drain, combined with public CCTV footage matching the suspect's purple scooter.
Crucial evidence included CCTV recordings of the suspect transporting the victim's remains on a purple scooter, recovery of the victim's torso and severed limbs, and seizure of the hacksaw and cleaver from the suspect's residence.
The victim's mother, Kamini Singh, stated that Piyush left for school at 8:30 AM but never arrived. Piyush's aunt reported that Saran targeted children for sacrifice to awaken black occult practices under a tantrik's direction. A female witness described seeing a man aged 40-45 on a purple scooter throw a bundle wrapped in a saree into a drain. A neighbor reported seeing Saran sit outside the victim's home pretending to comfort the family after the crime.
The investigation shifted rapidly from a standard missing minor search to a murder investigation after the discovery of a dismembered torso in Yamunapar and subsequent CCTV tracking identified the victim's grand-uncle as the perpetrator.
The precise identity, role, and current whereabouts of the occultist who allegedly instructed Saran Singh to commit the sacrifice remain unresolved pending ongoing police searches.