Post News Network
Rayagada/Kalyansinghpur, Sept 2: In yet another incident of sorcery related attack, a 70-year-old man was killed while his eight family members sustained critical injuries in Nimajhola village of Majhiguda panchayat under Kalyanshingpur block in Rayagada.
The deceased was identified as Kuruma Kandagari and the injured were Muguri, Dama, Barika, Ramsingh, Situ, Mani, Binda and Nanda of the Kandagari family,
police said.
The injured were rescued and admitted to Kalyansinghpur community health centre before being shifted to the district headquarters hospital as their condition worsened.
According to the police sources, the villagers had developed a habit of suspecting witchcraft behind every death in the village. They suspected that the involvement of Kandagiri family in sorcery has led to a few deaths in the village. Tuesday, the villagers held a meeting and asked the family to leave the village. They held another meeting in the evening and summoned Kuruma to attend it.
However, some villagers suddenly went berserk and started beating him up mercilessly after tying him to a utility pole. The elderly man died on the spot.
The assailants managed to burn the body. The other family members were also beaten up severely and rendered critical. On being alerted, police reached the village and rescued them otherwise some of them would have succumbed to the injuries, a report said.
The injured didn’t dare to open their mouths against the attackers fearing for their lives while sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Y Jagannath Rao deployed a platoon of police to maintain law and order in the village.
The accused would be arrested soon, the SDPO said. Investigation was on till this report was filed.
The incident happened within 24 hours of an awareness campaign against sorcery at the district headquarter town comprising the panchayat authorities and government employees.
