A married couple in India has been arrested for allegedly killing five young boys.

The couple from a poor rural area in the western part of the country were detained, along with the man's parents, in the remote village following deaths of children over the last three months.

Police have said the married couple had been together for twelve years without conceiving children.

The husband and wife supposedly contacted a black magic religious mystic who told them the killing of boys would help the woman conceive.

The crimes on victims aged between two and four were only investigated because of the frequency and number of deaths.

It was originally thought the boys had died of snake bites.