Doctors at state-run hospital at Kolkata on July 31 removed nine needles inserted into the throat of a 14-year-old girl, a senior official of the medical establishment said.

The needles were stuck inside the girl's throat, and it took around three hours for a team of doctors to get those out. Initially the doctors were of the opinion that the girl had swallowed the needles. "But it was later found out that the needles were actually inserted inside her throat from outside as a part of some kind of tantrik ritual," a senior doctor of the NRS Hospital, where she was treated, said.

The family members did not want to disclose the cause of the needles getting inside the girl's throat, he said. Questioning the girl, doctors have come to know that she was an adopted child to the couple who had lost their son around three years ago, the doctor added. "After their son's death, there was a change in the girl's behaviour. After that the couple started consulting a tantrik," he said. The girl is out of danger but will be kept under observation, the doctor said adding that the psychological consultations will be taken for the girl.