Bhubaneswar: Police have begun a probe after seven skulls were found near Kamala Devi Maternity Hospital at Station Road in Sea Beach police limits of Puri.

The skulls, which were wrapped in yellow plastic, were noticed by Kamalakanta Das, an employee of the government-run hospital. "I spotted a man dump something last night and when I asked him about it, he avoided my questions. I spotted the skulls this morning while taking a morning walk," he said. He alleged that he reported the matter to the police, who advised him to dump the skulls in a graveyard.

The cops later reached the spot and seized the skulls. "The skulls will be sent to the forensic laboratory for further investigation. We are trying to identify the man who dumped the skulls," said Sea Beach police station inspector-in-charge Biswa Ranjan Senapati. He also denied the allegation made by Das about the police advising him to dump the skulls elsewhere.

Several incidents of dumping skulls have been reported in the district in the past. In November 2014, 21 human skulls, three animal skulls, bones and skeletons were found under a bridge over the Kushabhadra river at Liakhia on the Puri-Konark Marine Drive. The police later arrested a tantrik who had kept the skulls for occult practice.

In February 2015, the police found three human skulls from the premises of a mutt near Shri Jagannath Temple. The skulls were found in the garbage of a vegetable market inside Uttaraparshwa Mutt.

"We suspect that the skulls were linked to occult practice. A number tantriks in the district worship skulls as part of their occult practice. We are investigating to ascertain the source of the skulls," said a police officer.