In a bizarre incident, a woman was allegedly beaten to death on the suspicion of practicing sorcery at Madhiapalli in Kabisurya Nagar in Ganjam district.
Local villagers thrashed four persons suspecting them of practicing sorcery on Wednesday. The severely injured victims were later rushed to hospital for treatment.
Jhunu Nayak, wife of one of the injured, went to police station to file a complaint in this regard. Flowing the incident, villagers barged into Jhunu’s house and attacked her family.
Her two sons ran out of the house and hid themselves at a nearby paddy field to save their lives. However, villagers did not spare Jhunu and beat her black and blue which subsequently led to her death, sources said.
Police have detained as many as 50 women and some men from the village in this connection. Two platoons of police personnel have been deployed at the village to maintain law and order situation.
The deceased’s son said, “The fellow villagers including women and young girls attacked us without any fault of us at around 11pm. I managed to run out of the house just to save my life and hid myself at a paddy field. When I reached home in wee hours of Thursday I found my mother dead. Her body was found hanging.”
Another son of the victim said, “I had gone to attend a meeting. I was away from home when the incident took place. After coming to know about it, I hid myself in a farmland till 4am. I found her dead after reaching home.”