Elderly Man Killed Over Sorcery Hunch In Sundargarh

Sundargarh: A 70-year-old man was allegedly hacked to death on the suspicion of practising witchcraft at Kulabapada village under Kinjirkela police limits in Sundargarh district on Sunday. The deceased was identified as Haladhar Bhoi.

According to sources, a woman first spotted the body when she had gone to fetch water from a nearby well. Following this, she informed the villages of the same.

On being informed by villagers, police reached that spot and found the body was found in a pool of blood under a mango tree about 200 metres from his house in the morning.

It is suspected that he was killed elsewhere and the body was dumped under the mango tree.

According to his family members, Haladhar was killed while walking on the village road all alone. Local residents suspected that Haladhar might have been killed over suspected witchcraft.

Police have seized the body and sent it for postmortem. An investigation was started into the incident. A youth has been detained for interrogation.

The actual reason behind the crime will be known after the investigation, police said.