Man beheads cousin, his friends take selfie with severed head

A 20-year-old man named Sagar Munda beheaded his 24-year-old cousin, Kanu Munda, over a long-standing land dispute between their families in the Indian state of Jharkhand.

Later, the accused's friends even took a selfie with the victim's severed head, per local media reports. The incident took place in the Kunti district of the state on December 1.

According to an FIR filed with the police, the victim was alone at home when his cousin abducted him. Kanu's father found out what had happened when he came home after working in his fields in the evening. He looked everywhere for his son but to no avail. Later, the villagers informed him that his son had been abducted by his nephew.

He approached the police the next day and lodged an FIR against his nephew, Sagar. The police have arrested six people, including the wife of the accused, on the basis of the complaint filed by the deceased's father, Dasai Munda.

They later found Kanu's torso in the Kumang Gopla forest and the head 15 km away in the Dulwa Tungri area.

The police have been able to seize six mobile phones, two sharp, blood-stained weapons, and an axe from the accused.

The family belongs to a tribal community whose main occupation is farming. They had been involved in a land dispute for a long time which led to the horrific death of the young man.

"Both families for long have been fighting over the land. Their ancestral land had not been divided and now Sagar Munda's family wanted to sell it whereas Dasai Munda and his family didn't give the consent," Station Officer-in-Charge Chudamani Tudu told Outlook India.

"Due to this reason Sagar and his friends kidnapped Dasai's son Kanu and beheaded him. We have already arrested Sagar Munda, his wife Sinu Munda along with four other persons," Tudu added.