Mumbai: Shiv Sena man casts 'black magic' spell to kill rival

Ratnagiri police, Shiv Sena leader arrested, Vinayak Bhosle, black magic, Prashant Raut, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi party, Mumbai

British politician Alan Clark had famously remarked, "There are no true friends in politics. We are all sharks circling, and waiting, for traces of blood to appear in the water." A Shiv Sena leader's attempt to kill a rival politician using black magic, however, indicates that the bar is much, much lower in India.

Representational picture

Vinayak Bhosle, a Shiv Sena worker and Upshakha Pramukh from Manvel Pada in Virar, had approached a local ‘baba' last month and asked to learn black magic so that he could cause the death of the sitting corporator from his area, Prashant Raut, a leader of the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi party.

Shiv Sena leader Vinayak Bhosle (left) and Bahujan Vikas Aghadi corporator Prashant Raut. Pic/Hanif Patel

Elections for the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation (VVMC) are due next year and Bhosle wanted Raut to die before that, so that he could get elected in his place. Armed with animal bones, lemons, sindoor (vermillion) and a notebook containing the names of his enemies, Bhosle reached his hometown, Ratnagiri, on September 23 to conduct the black magic ritual that he was taught by the baba.

Before he could conduct the ritual, however, Bhosle had an argument over property with his brother, Sunil, on September 25. In the heat of the moment, Bhosle warned Sunil that he was going to perform a black magic ritual to kill his enemies and threatened to include his name in it. This proved to be his undoing.

The same night, Bhosle dug a hole in a ground in a jungle in Ratnagiri and began the ritual around 1 am. He wrote the names of his enemies, including corporator Raut and his brother Sunil, in a notebook and put it in the hole. He heaped the bones, a pot, lemons, sindoor and other items used in black magic on top of the notebook and began chanting mantras in the moonlight.

Bhosle's brother, meanwhile, told the police about the ritual, and officials set out to look for Bhosle in the jungle. The Sangameshwar police found Bhosle after a two-hour search operation and caught him in the act. The bones and other materials were seized.

Booked
An official from the Sangameshwar police said, "Bhosle expected to get a ticket to contest the upcoming VVMC elections in April next year, but knew winning would be tough because Raut enjoys good support in Virar and had been the corporator from the area for many years.

So, he hatched the plan to kill Raut, his brother Sunil because of a property dispute and a few other people through black magic." Senior Police Inspector Chikhale from the Sangameshwar police station said, "We have recovered the notebook from the accused. He had tied it with a thread and wanted to bury it in the ground.

He has been arrested and investigation is on." Bhosle has been booked under the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and Other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013, and under Section 3(2) of the IPC. He is currently in police custody.