West Singhbhum: Manu Pyari Devi 50 years of Kurulia village was brutally killed by her native villagers on Sunday in Chakradharpur block of Kendo Panchayat, merely on the suspicion of a witch.
She was working in the field with her daughter when Ranjeet Pradhan and Vikas Pradhan of her native village reached there and engaged in a verbal argument with her and started calling her a witch.
Immediately it took an ugly turn and they started beating Manu Devi with bamboo sticks. Finally, they killed her with a sharp weapon and left.
Villagers suggested that accused Ranjeet Pradhan’s son died of pneumonia couple of days earlier and he was suspecting Muni Devi for doing the witchcraft against his son.
It was a planned attack as a day before Ranjeet tried to do the same but failed as there were many villagers working in the field.
After receiving the information Chakradharpur police Sub Inspector BB Singh and Rajesh Kumar reached the village and sent the body for postmortem. Later it was handed over to the deceased family.
Local Member of Legislative Assembly member Shashibhushan Samad reached the Kurulia village and spoke with the police presence and said that culprits should be punished. He also demanded their immediate arrest.
Samad also appealed to the local villagers to stay away from superstitions. He said that one should go to the doctor, not these Tantriks and Sermons. He later helped in the final rights of the deceased women and also provided financial aid to her family to perform the last rites.
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Rajasthan: Woman accused of being witch dies after ruthless assault
