Police so far have arrested 11 persons in connection with the murder of a woman on the suspicion that she was practising witchcraft.
The search for three other accused, all women, is on. On 2 March, Jasoda Singh, 50, wife of Fagu Singh, 55, of Rathakhandi village, was brutally killed by a mob.
The attackers believed that the lady was practising witchcraft and had cast an evil spell on the entire village. Fagu and his son Kamalesh were also injured in the attack.
The daughter of deceased Gayatri, who had come to celebrate Holi with the family, filed an FIR. She had named 15 persons of the village who were part of the mob that killed her mother.
The villagers suspected Jasoda to be a witch and the cause of all diseases in the village.
They even suspected her to have the power to change the sex of a child in the womb of the mother as a result of which several women in the village were giving birth to girl child.
On the day of the incident, 2 March, over 15 persons reached Fagu’s house around•10 pm•armed with sickle, axe and other sharp weapons.
They called Fagu and asked him to send his wife Jasoda out. Fagu and his son resisted and were attacked. They fell unconscious.
The mob stormed in to the house dragged the lady out and attacked her. She died on the spot. IIC Biramitrapur, DP Das, said, “We immediately rushed to the spot and found the bloodstained weapons on the spot.” Adding, “We have arrested eleven persons so far in this connection and three more, ladies, will be arrested soon.”