Purnia police, who have so far arrested three people for “torching” to five members of a tribal family on Sunday night. Doubt of indulgent practices (witchcraft)On Tuesday, he said that at least five children died in the last one and a half years and the latest of the last one week may have committed crime. Police said it was a rare case in which the entire village felt that two men and three women of a family were “killed” which they believed that they had done black magic.
Those killed were identified daily as Babulal Oraon (65), his wife Sita Devi (60), who suspected of practicing witchcraft, his son Manjeet Kunar (25) and daughter -in -law Rani Devi (22) and Babulal’s mother Keto Devi (82).
The incident took place in Tetgama village under Mufassil police station, which is barely 15 km from Purnia Town. The village is dominated by Oraon and other tribal community families.
Police have arrested fellow-Villagers Mukul Oraon, Chhotu Oran and Sanullah out of 23 nominated in the failure, which also mentions a crowd of about 150 unidentified people. “At least five children have died in the last one and a half years and the villagers suspected that it was due to the witchcraft practiced by Sita Devi,” a villager said on condition of anonymity. This village looks uninhabited because almost all the residents have run away since the crime came to the fore.
A uninhabited house of Purnia tribal village in which five families were killed in a mob case on suspicion of witchcraft. (Picture by Chinmaya N Singh)
Describing the incident, Babulal’s brother Jitendra Oran said: “In a village of 21 tribal families, members of 18 families targeted all three with blunt objects. After the attack, he yearned our homes. While we survived, the whole family of Babulal was stuck in the fire and died.” He said that people from neighboring settlements did not come to his rescue.
Another villager alleged how Sanaullah, who lives near the village, “provided his tractor to other accused to remove the bodies of the victims from the spot for Rs 40,000”.
Raghunath Oran of Tola, neighboring Dargah of Raziganj Panchayat, said: “By the time the neighboring villagers came to know about the incident, all the bodies were removed.” Police recovered the bodies from an area 2 km from the village on Monday.
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A uninhabited house of Purnia tribal village in which five families were killed in a mob case on suspicion of witchcraft. (Picture by Chinmaya N Singh)
Purnia District Magistrate Ansul Kumar, who reached the spot on Tuesday, said: “This incident is a result of superstition among the people. This shows that we need to work on literacy and lack of awareness in these tribal pockets.”
Purnia Sadar Deputy Police Officer Pankaj Kumar Sharma said: “Our investigation so far has revealed that the incident was triggered by a dispute over traditional treatment practices or perceived witchcraft. Babulal Oraon’s family, which was targeted after killing a child for Ramdev’s family.
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