FUKUOKA (Kyodo) Police raided the Fukuoka headquarters of a religious group Thursday over the death of a baby whose parents allegedly caused him to die by withholding medical treatment.
The parents, Hideo and Kuniko Takatsuki, both of whom are followers and employees of the group Shinkenko Kyokai, were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of murder. Their 7-month-old son, Yoshihiko, underweight and suffering from eczema, died in October.
The parents allegedly only tried to help their son through religious acts of holding their hands over the baby's body in what the sect calls a "jorei" service to cleanse the soul.
They told investigators they were confident the religious acts would clear up their son's disease, police sources said.
Hideo Takatsuki, 32, became a follower in elementary school, while Kuniko Takatsuki, 30, joined when she was in junior high school.
Several other followers of Shinkenko Kyokai conducted similar rituals with the baby.
The group, headquartered in Higashi Ward, Fukuoka, has some 10,000 followers across Japan, according to the group's Web site and investigative sources.
