Describing the case as rarest of rare, the judge said capital punishment was a must for Dr Damu Gopinath Shinde alias Pimplya Maharaj, primary teacher Gangadhar Kotkar, former panchayat member Mukinda Thorat, former Youth Congress man and an anti-superstition activist Dhananjay alias Balu Joshi.

The accused were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment of various terms for conspiracy, abduction, illegally confining the abducted children and tampering with the evidence. ``The sentences will run concurrently,'' the judgment said.

Seven-year-old Meera Akhade was the first victim of Kotkar guruji and his accomplices, who were trying to find hidden treasure in a room in Chandekar wada in the otherwise obscure Chande village. The series of murders reminded many of the Manvat serial killing from Parbhani district in the early 70's.

Meera was killed on March 4, 1992. Bhau Murge and Deepak Wavare were killed on February 9, 1994 and February 13, 1995 respectively while two attempts to kidnap Sagar Dahatonde were foiled by the exemplary presence of mind shown by the boy.

Pimplya Maharaj had suggested to Kotkar and others that the hidden treasure would be discovered after offering it blood from private parts of a pre-pubescent girl and four young boys. ``Of the four boys, three should be the only issue of their parents,'' the witch doctor decreed.

The nature of killing, wounds found on the private parts of the children and the dates on which all the deaths took place - it was in Magha every year - led the investigators to explore the witchcraft angle.

Pressure was mounting on the police to solve the case. After Deepak's body with cuts on his private parts was found, Pimplya Maharaj was nabbed on February 14, a day after Deepak was killed. The police recovered several books on witchcraft, cowrie shells and other articles required for pooja from Damu's place.

Damu's client Muktabai Labade, who was seeking advice from the tantrik to get a male issue, told the police that the witch-doctor was away the whole night on February 14. Subsequent arrests of the primary teacher and two others stunned the region.

Judge Narwade Patil passed strictures against the government machinery saying it had done nothing to check the spread of superstitious practices. ``There are statutes to prevent superstitious practices, these may be old but are still effective,'' the judge said.

The judge said only the death penalty would deter such gruesome acts resorted to by superstitious persons in future. He pointed out that the accused never pleaded for mercy. And even if they had done it, in view of the fact that they had killed children in cold blood, they could not seek mercy. The court campus was thronged by villagers from the region and some people clapped hands after the sentence was announced.