Daringbadi: Police has arrested six more persons in connection with the alleged murder and burning of a man by two of his nephews at Sikanbadi village under the Daringbadi police limits in Kandhamal district, taking the total number of arrests to eight.
The accused were identified as Jagannath Digal, Bhiju Digal, Srikant Digal, Harish Chandra Digal, Suranjan Digal and Kalia Pradhan, Daringbadi police station inspector-in-charge Sangram Keshari Jena said. They were produced in court.
Police had earlier arrested two siblings Sanjay Digal and Siddhartha Digal in connection with the murder and burning of their uncle, August 17.
According to police, a village meeting was held over a land dispute of the siblings Sanjay and Siddhartha with their uncle Mishra Pradhan. However, some villagers began thrashing him brutally alleging Mishra Pradhan was practicing witchcraft. Later, they lynched him and burned the body in the nearby jungle to destroy evidence, police said.
Police learned about the incident August 16 and registered a case-212/26, and launched an investigation.