Santosh Sonawane,TNN | Apr 7, 2015, 08.16AM IST

NASHIK: In yet another case of black magic, the Niphad police on Saturday arrested three persons for putting some material in front of a woman's house for getting a court verdict in their favour in a land dispute case. 

The three suspects, Shankargiri Gosavi (70), Balu Kacchu Gole (50) and Sahadu Namdeo Khaire (70), all residents of villages near Niphad, have been booked under sections of the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013. 

The accused were produced before a Niphad-based court on Sunday which remanded them in police custody till Tuesday. A complaint in this regard was lodged by Tarabai Gosavi (58), a resident of Niphad. 

According to the complainant, the trio put material including different types of pulses, eggs, lemons with pins pierced, turmeric powder, kumkum and various other things to threaten her and perform black magic in front of her house around 4 pm on Saturday. 

The Niphad police said the complainant and Shankargiri Gosavi have their farms divided by a boundary at Kolewadi. A case of land dispute between them is underway in a court. During investigation, the police found that the accused were performing black magic to get the court verdict in their favour. 

Head constable P K Kadam of the Niphad police station said the trio had not been to any tantrik to perform the act. However, Khaire apparently had some knowledge of such activities and helped Shankargiri Gosavi in performing them. 

Police said the complainant had heard some noise in front of her house while the three suspects were putting the material. After Gosavi came out, she found the material at her doorsteps and watched the trio escape. She immediately approached the Niphad police. 

Recently, the Chandwad police had registered one such case in which nine people allegedly cheated a woman of Rs 12.85 lakh by promising to multiply her money by performing black magic.

Twenty-one human skulls have been found in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, leading to fears that they could be related to human sacrifice or "black magic" rituals.

The skulls were found under a bridge on the Kushbhadra river along with bones, dry flowers and vermillion powder.

Police are questioning a local tantrik, or so-called witch doctor.

Report said the tantrik told police he had been stealing skulls from a graveyard for the past five years.

He is reported to have said that the skulls and bones were dumped under the bridge by his assistant's son who did not approve of his father's work. The assistant died on 13 November.

"We have sent the skulls for forensic examination. We will be able to come to any conclusion only after we get the reports," local police official Subhash Mohanty told BBC Hindi.

Local people say the presence of dry flowers and vermillion powder - used extensively in Hindu religious rituals and regarded as a symbol of fertility - near the skulls suggest they could be related to witchcraft.

"Black magic" is often practised in poorer parts of India - many people believe it can help childless women to bear children, cure illnesses and produce more rainfall.