5 of family lynched in Chhattisgarh over ‘witchcraft’

Five members of a family, including two couples, were allegedly beaten to death on suspicion of practising witchcraft in a village in Chhattisgarh’s tribal Sukma district on Sunday, the police said.

Five persons, all from the same village, had been arrested and there might be more arrests, he said. The incident took place at Itkal village under Konta police station limits and the victims were identified as Mausam Kanna (34), his wife Mausam Biri, Mausam Buchcha (34), his wife Mausam Arjo (32), and another woman Karka Lachhi (43), SSP Kiran Chavan said. The accused brutally attacked the victims with sticks leading to their death on the spot, he said.

In a similar incident on September 12, four members of a family, including an infant boy, were allegedly killed on the suspicion of black magic in Balodabazar-Bhatapara district.