This story reminds me of the Bapu that ordered his followers to kill their children in order to gain favors from "gods" in the state of Bihar.

One of the followers, a confused dude by the name of Dhiru Koli, cut his 3 year old daughter in half then stitched her back together. He then decapitated his son's head and left it and the body of his daughter at an alter. Supposedly they get all these ideas from a book titled Kalika Purana (a bible of sorts) which states: "The gods are pleased by the performance of sacrifices, the sacrifice saves people, and everything is rooted in sacrifice. Man and animals are created for sacrifice."

I always find it mindblowing how one dude manages to convince people to kill their kids. When I meet the guy (the bapu) he wouldn't even come out of his room (shack). He sat in bed cross-legged and smiled the whole time and asked if I had kids or needed any favors.