Belief systems: Man dies after drinking hot oil

‘Spiritual guide’ claims drinking the oil makes a person ‘spiritually stronger’.

FAISALABAD:

A man died on Tuesday night after he was allegedly led into drinking hot oil by his spiritual advisor.

Talib Hussain, 75, a resident of Johar Colony, had gone to see his spiritual adviser, Farooq, 55, a resident of Shamsabad on Tuesday.

Muhammad Ashraf, Talib’s brother, said, “We first took Talib to Farooq after he started saying strange things.”

He told us Talib had been possessed and he would need to perform a ritual to rid him of the jinns, Ashraf said. “We paid him Rs100,000 to treat Talib and left him there,” he said.

“Later at night, Farooq informed us Talib was in a poor condition and had been taken to hospital. When we got there, he had died,” he said.

He said Farooq told them he had asked Talib to stand in boiling oil and later to drink some of it.

“Farooq came to attend the funeral on Wednesday evening but we beat him up and handed him over to police,” Ashraf said.

Madina Town SP Tahir Maqsood Chinna said police had sent the body for a postmortem examination and were awaiting the results.

Millat Town Station House Officer Rai Muhammad Farooq said a murder case had been registered and the suspect was being interrogated.

He said during the preliminary questioning, he had told them he asked Talib to drink the boiling oil to cure him.

The accused claimed he wanted Talib to become his successor but Talib could not absorb the spiritual power of the oil and died.

He said Talib was a friend and he could never think of killing him. He also denied taking any money from the family. Station House Officer
Farooq said the suspected would be presented before a judicial magistrate on Thursday (today) and a physical remand request.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 26^th, 2012.