Hyderabad, Dec. 24: A two-year-old child was strangled, roasted and eaten by a tribal a week ago in the first reported instance of cannibalism in Andhra Pradesh in recent times.

The last such incident of bestiality was reported a few years ago when some women killed an infant and drank its blood in a black magic ritual in Warangal district.

The 42-year-old tribal allegedly was driven to cannibalism by hunger, said Nellore district police that arrested him on Wednesday.

Vasantha was snatched from her mother?s lap when both were asleep on the night of December 16 in Punjalurupadu village of the district?s Venkatachalam mandal.

?I put the baby to sleep and then slept by her side in my hut. In the morning, I found my daughter missing and searched the whole area for two days,? said Sheshamma, the 26-year-old mother.

The incident came to light after Sheshamma and her husband Mallikarjuna lodged a missing persons complaint with the police.

Mallikarjuna said they had given up hope of finding their toddler after searching wells, roads and fields in vain.

Sheshamma said: ?There were reports of hyena attacks near our area during the week. A group of five hyenas had come into our village. We suspected the wild animals had taken away our child.?

Then they heard reports of a tribal who ate an entire buffalo calf raw. He was found in the middle of a forest by residents of nearby Tirumalamma Palyam village four days after the baby went missing.

?He was eating raw buffalo meat with such wild flourish that the villagers suspected him of being a psychopath and handed him to us (after observing him for two days),? the district police said.

Inspector K. Prasada Rao of Venkatachalam said: ?He does not speak at all and is very wild. He wants to eat only meat and when served rice and dal, he threw them away.?

Curious about the reports, Sheshamma and Mallikarjuna accompanied other villagers to see the tribal at the police station.

The police description of where he was found raised the couple?s suspicions and made them rush to the spot, a few kilometres from their village.

Their worst fears came true when they found the clothes and trinkets the baby had worn the day she went missing. Sheshamma fainted on seeing the tiny human bones, half eaten limbs and a portion of the head, found a little farther away. ?It was a cruel sight. I do not wish to see it again in my life,? said a police constable who accompanied them.

Prasada Rao said: ?On repeated questioning, he (the tribal) showed how he strangulated the child, put it on wild fire in the forest and ate it.?

When asked how some body parts were left unburnt, the tribal is said to have indicated to the police that he put out the fire and slunk off with the body on seeing someone approaching.

The police said they were yet to file a chargesheet against the man. ?The tribal gets wild at times. So we have kept him in chains,? they said.

The police added that the sight of him in shackles at the local police station was drawing large crowds from all over.

They propose to send him for a medical check-up in Hyderabad.