Four including a woman arrested killing a tribal couple suspected them witch

Jajpur,JULY 21: Police in Jajpur district  on Tuesday  arrested  four tribal  persons including a woman  on charges of brutally killing  an elderly  tribal couple  on Sunday night on grounds that  they were witches and  practised black magic and responsible for the  untimely death of some youths in the village recently.

All the four arrested persons have been identified as Birima Gagrai, a tribal woman,  Sadhu Gagrai Sankar Hesa , Tofan Sinku  and Sagar Sinku of  village  Nimapali under Kalinganagar police station.  They along with other villagers assaulted   the tribal couple Saila Balmuch (65) and his wife Basanti Balmuch(60) of the village and burnt them to death  inside their house. All the arrested persons  were under the wrong impression that some youths of the  village died  due to practice of witchcraft by the deceased couple for which to take revenge  they  killed  the couple and later burnt their bodies in the village by pouring kerosene  on Sunday night.  Some accused managed to flee from the village after this incident. We  are raiding their hideouts to nab them. Police are investigating the case  “, said  Jayaram Satapathy  , the  Additional Superintendent of Police  of  Kalinganagar.

All the four arrested persons were booked under sections of 147, 148, 302, 436 and 149 IPC and sec 4 of Odisha Prevention of Witch-hunting Act, 2013. They were produced in the court at Jajpur Road on Tuesday. The court rejected their bail applications and remanded them into jail custody, added the police officer .