India, May 14 -- A woman in Faridabad allegedly killed her two-year-old son by throwing him into a canal, after being convinced by a self-styled occult practitioner that the child was "possessed by a dark power which would kill everyone in the family", police said on Tuesday.

The two women - 32-year-old Megha Devi, the child's mother, and 38-year-old Meeta Bhatia, the so-called occult practitioner - were arrested on Monday and sent to judicial custody after being produced before a Faridabad court on Tuesday. The complaint in the case was filed by the child's father.

Police said the alleged murder took place late Sunday night at the BPTP bridge area near Faridabad's Sector 14.

According to investigators, Megha and Meeta were neighbours ...