Tezpur, May 28: A five-year-old was allegedly beheaded by a priest performing Kali Puja in the boy's home at Torajuli tea estate in Assam's Sonitpur district today. The priest was lynched by residents.

Some residents told the police that the priest, Nanu Mirdha, was a tantric (sorcerer) and had "sacrificed" the boy while others said it was "revenge killing" as Mirdha had a dispute with the child's father, Sanatan Bag, over money when they used to work together in Manipur.

"We are investigating whether Mirdha killed the child out of revenge," a policeman said. The tea estate is 8km from Rangapara town, which is 35km from Tezpur and 215km from Guwahati.

Sources said the child, Sajan Bag, was a pre-primary school student at Jatiya Vidyalaya in Rangapara.

Sonitpur superintendent of police Sanjukta Parasar said according to information received from Rangapara police station, the boy was beheaded by the priest with a sharp weapon (the nature of which is not known) while performing puja in the house of Bag, a tea garden worker, around 4.30pm.

The police said according to residents, the priest beheaded the child before his family members could react.

"We are investigating the incident and cases will be registered at Rangapara police station in connection with both the incidents," Parasar said, adding that the police had rushed to the incident site and brought the situation under control.

Rajnish Saikia, a student leader in Rangapara, said low literacy and lack of development were responsible for such ghastly incidents.

"Our government has failed to improve the condition of tea garden workers. Such incidents are results of blind faith among illiterate population. Unless we take special care of tea garden workers, we can't expect things to improve and get rid of blind faith like this," he said.