An Indian man was arrested in possession of 15 human skull parts from Kakadbhitta in Jhapa on Monday night.

Police said 66-year-old Bhagirath Singh, 66, of Khoribari in India’s West Bengal state, was caught during a security check near Kakadbhitta customs office. 

Singh told police during interrogation that he was paid IRs 1,000 by an unknown man to smuggle the cranial bones across the border.

Superintendent of Police Sailesh Thapa said the human skulls might have been smuggled for tantric rituals.

He added that Singh will be booked under the Public Offence Act as the country’s law does not specify possession of human body parts as an offence.

A police source said that Kakadbhitta was becoming a transit point for smuggling of human bones in the recent years.

Nepalis as well as Indians have been found involved in smuggling of human bones through Kakadbhitta border. A man was arrested with a human skull from the area last year as well.

It is learnt that human skulls are being smuggled to Nepal from places like Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram in India.