Bihar villagers kill, burn 5 of family over suspected witchcraft

Five members of a family were beaten and burned alive in a village in Bihar's Purnia by locals over suspected witchcraft. The villagers linked recent deaths in the area to the family, suspecting them of being responsible.

The suspicion that the family was practising occult rituals grew so strong among the villagers that it drove them to brutally murder five members of the same family -- Babulal Oraon, Sita Devi, Manjeet Oraon, Rania Devi, and Tapto Mosmat -- on Sunday, blaming them for recent deaths and illnesses in the village.

A child from the family, who survived, told the police that all the villagers were involved in the attack.

No formal complaint (FIR) has been registered yet, as the child is extremely traumatised and unable to provide more details at this time.

A day later, the village lies abandoned with police patrolling the area along with teams from the dog squad.

The incident stems from the death of the son of a local resident, Ramdev Oraon, who had been undergoing traditional healing and rituals (jhaar-phoonk) in Tetgama village three days earlier. Another child in the family had also fallen ill.

One individual, Nakul Kumar, has been arrested in connection with the murders for allegedly trying to incite the crowd.

Senior Purnia police official Sweety Sehrawat told India Today TV that the incident occurred in a tribal village, confirming that the murders were related to jhaar-phoonk and tantra-mantra.

Sadded that it's difficult to confirm whether the victims were beaten to death first and then burned, or burned alive.

The police have recovered four charred bodies from a nearby pond so far.

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