Schoolchild in India killed in alleged sacrificial ritual: Police

Indian authorities have taken five people into custody over the killing of a child in an alleged sacrificial ritual at a private school, police officials said Friday.

Police in the northern district of Hathras in Uttar Pradesh state said in a statement that investigations were launched immediately after the incident, which took place on Monday.

The accused "informed police that the student was killed for 'sacrifice' for the prosperity of the school and the owner's family," the local Press Trust of India news agency quoted police official Ashok Kumar Singh as saying.

Findings in the investigation indicate that the second-grade student was abducted and strangled to death by the owner of the school, according to police.