Bhubaneswar, 7 Aug

A man was allegedly killed by a group of villagers and buried in a forest on suspicion of practising witchcraft in Odisha's Gajapati district, police said on Thursday.

The incident took place at Kusumpur village under Mohana police limits in the district on the night of 29 July, police said, adding that the victim, identified as Karunakar Dalai, was working a quack. The matter came to light on Wednesday after Karunakar's sister-in-law, Sabita, filed a complaint at Mohana police station.

"Around 6 pm on 28 July, some people called him (Karunakar) and took him with them. The villagers held a meeting with him at the Anganwadi Kendra, following which he went missing. When I enquired, I was told that the villagers beat him," Sabita told reporters.

During preliminary investigation, it was found that Karunakar prescribed Ayurvedic-like medicines to villagers, Gajapati SP Jatindra Kumar Panda said and pointed to the recent death of a 12-year-old boy. 

"Around 15 to 20 days ago, Karunakar had prescribed some medicines to a 12-year-old boy, who was bitten by a dog. However, the boy died a few days later," Panda informed.

"Angry over the death of the boy and a few similar cases that took place recently, a group of 10 to 12 people beat Karunakar to death and buried his body in a nearby jungle," the SP told PTI over the phone. Though the villagers knew about the incident, they did not reveal it to anyone, he said.

"Karunakar's body was recovered from a forest on Thursday. We detained eight persons and are currently interrogating them," he added. 

Notably, this was the second such incident reported from Mohana police limits over the past few days. 

Earlier, a 35-year-old man was killed allegedly on suspicion of practising witchcraft in the nearby Malasapadar village.  Villagers allegedly strangulated the man to death, cut off his private parts and dumped the body in the nearby Harabhangi Dam.

Police recovered the body from the reservoir on Sunday and arrested a few villagers in connection with the crime.