Two held for killing man over witchcraft

BERHAMPUR: Police on Tuesday arrested two persons for allegedly beating to death a 52-year-old man at Badamasing in Gajapati district suspecting him of practising witchcraft.
The accused were identified as Gangadhara Bhuyan and Narayan Sabara. Though the incident occurred on Sunday, it came to light only on Monday when Madhu Sabara, the son of the deceased, lodged an FIR.The deceased's name was Gopal Sabara.
Gangadhara, a relative of the deceased, allegedly dragged Gopal from the house and, along with Narayan, beat him up mercilessly. Gangadhara suspected his father had died due to witchcraft by Gopal. After killing him, they dumped the body in an abandoned house in the village and locked it. Scared for her life, Gopal's wife fled to the nearby jungle, police said.
"We found the body and conducted a postmortem at Paralakhemundi," said IIC, Garabandh police station, P K Behera. Police claimed that the duo confessed to the crime.
"We are inquiring whether more people were involved in the crime. But most of the residents of the tribal- dominated village are in the forest, making preparations for shifting cultivation," Behera said.
This was the second major witchcraft-related murder in the area. An old couple was murdered by some villagers at Elesara, a remote village in the district, in March. After committing the murder, they buried the bodies in the nearby hill. Police exhumed the bodies from the hilltop at Palatasingh a month after the killing. The deceased were identified as Edang Sabara, 50, and his wife Srimati, 60, police said.