Two tribal women have been lynched allegedly for practicing sorcery at Adivasi Para in Harisara village, under Mayureswar police station area of Birbhum district on Friday evening.
Few villagers called them at a khap panchayat and beat them mercilessly and threw their bodies in a nearby irrigation canal allegedly for practicing witchcraft in the village.
Raj Narayan Mukherjee, superintendent of police (SP) of Birbhum district said that after getting the information through sources, a huge police force from Mayureswar police station rushed to the spot and recovered the two dead bodies floating in the irrigation canal.
They were beaten with rods, prima facie it seems.
“So far, we have arrested six villagers in this connection. Murder cases have been registered at the Mayureswar police station. The bodies of both the two women have been sent to Rampurhat Medical College for post-mortem by police,” the Birbhum SP Raj Narayan Mukherjee added.
There has been a heavy police picket in the village. The situation is tense. There will be few more arrests as police will continue raids at night. The men have fled from their houses fearing arrest by police.