A 70-year-old priest has beheaded a man as a sacrifice to end the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday in India.

Sansari Ojha from the Brahmani Devi Temple under Narasinghpur police station in Cuttack cut off 52-year-old Saroj Kumar Pradhan's head.

The Hindu priest from the Bandhahuda area in Odisha killed the man to appease a goddess, he claimed.

He beheaded Pradhan with an axe at 1am in the morning in the temple's shrine after an argument.

Priest Sansari Ojha (pictured), 70, of Brahmani Dei Temple in Bhubaneswar cut off 52-year-old Saroj Kumar Pradhan's head on Wednesday as a 'sacrifice' to end coronavirus

Detective Ashish Kumar Singh said Ojha was heavily drunk at the time and surrendered to police the same day after coming to his senses.

He said Ojha claimed he was ordered by a goddess in his dream to sacrifice a human in order to bring an end to the pandemic.

Alok Ranjan Ray, Athagarh sub-divisional police officer, said: 'The priest claimed that he saw a goddess in his dream and was asked to sacrifice a human's life to bring an end to coronavirus.

'Hence, to appease the goddess, he decapitated the man'.