Guwahati: Sivasagar Sadar police has detained two brothers on suspicion of attempting to sacrifice their own children in search of a hidden treasure. The villagers were taken the two brothers and their families to the local police station on the suspicion of the children sacrifice, said police.

According to the police, the locals became suspicious when they found six children – three from each brother – kept in confinement. They then handed over the two brothers, their wives and the children at the Sivasagar Sadar Police Station. In the absence of any eye witnesses or a complaint by villagers in upper Assam’s Sivasagar district, the police have started their own investigation into the allegations denied by the family. The police have also kept their families; include six children, in “protective custody” for now.

The police also said that the residents of Dimowmukh village, about 370 km east of Guwahati and 10km from district headquarters Sivasagar, recently informed the police about two brothers – Jamiur Hussain and Sariful Hussain – whom they suspected of trying to their own children on the advice of a quack, locally known as Bez. “Locals said that a person identified as Bez from Sonari, about 45 km from Sivasagar, had told the brothers that they will find gold hidden under a mango tree that’s in their house if they sacrificed their children,” a police senior officer Bora from Sivasagar said.

However, the family has denied the allegations. They accepted that they had sought Bez’s counsel a month ago, but on how to improve their child’s deteriorating health.