Old man hacked to death on suspicion of sorcery in Odisha

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Keonjhar, Dec 15:

In a shocking incident, a 60-year-old man has been hacked to death in Odisha’s tribal-dominated Keonjhar district on Wednesday on suspicion of practicing black magic.

The deceased has been identified as Gangadhar Dehuri of Goras village under Saharpada block in the district.

According to reports, Gangadhar was working in the field yesterday morning while a woman identified as Kuni (27), neighbour, rushed to him and accused him of practicing sorcery. This apart, she also pelted stone at the sexagenarian.

Irked over the woman’s behaviour, the victim protested this in front of her house which further worsened the issue.

The accused lost her cool and allegedly attacked on his head with an axe.

His family members reached at the spot and found him screaming in a pool of blood.

He was rescued and taken to Saharpada police outpost. However, he breathed his last on the way to Karanjia sub-divisional hospital from the outpost.

Police seized the body and sent for post-mortem.

Later, Kuni and her husband Abhimanyu surrendered at Saharpada police outpost.

Police have started a probe into the incident registering a case (167/16) on the complaint filed by the victim’s son Prabhakar Dehuri.

Notably, the two-year-old son of Abhimanyu was suffering from fever since last few day and the couple suspected Gangadhar to be casting evil spell on the child.