Gajapati: Days after a man was allegedly killed over sorcery suspicion, police have detained eight persons in Mohana block of Odisha's Gajapati district today. The suspects were held after a police complaint was filed in this regard. The body of the deceased, which according to his family was buried in a forest atop a hillock, will be exhumed today in presence of a magistrate. 

As per reports, Karunakar Dalei, a resident of Kamalapur village in Jerang panchayat, was living in Kusumpur village since eight months. He used to make herbal medicines for villagers. However, things took an ugly turn when a villager's 12 year-old son died and rumours of Dalei practising sorcery started doing the rounds. 

Suspecting him to have indulged in witchcraft leading to the minor boy's death, a few youths from the village picked him up from his house on July 28. They allegedly took him to an anganwadi centre where he was held hostage for three days with hands and legs tied up, and beaten mercilessly until he succumbed. The youths then took the body and buried it in a jungle on top of a hill about 4 km away from the village, Dalei's family wrote in the police complaint. 

Acting on the allegations, Mohana police started investigation and detained eight youths for interrogation in this connection. Efforts have been initiated to exhume the body at the alleged spot in presence of a magistrate as per protocol and further details will be shared once the process is over, official sources informed.