The Salem witch hunt might be part of ancient lore, but black magic continues to haunt parts of India.
A man in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh murdered his aunt and uncle. He then went a step further and decapitated her body. The head was then buried a distance away from the torso.
Why?
He assumed she was a witch and would return to haunt him as a ghost, so followed some morbid ritual assumed to prevent that. The gruesome discovery was made by villagers on the outskirts of the area the couple lived in – Dudhmaniya village of Anuppur district.
People were understandably horrified at the state of the bodies, especially that of the woman.
Indian news site www.indiatoday.in reported the story and said that as a result, “panic spread in the area”.
The police were called in to investigate. As per the news report, the dead man, “…was identified as Bhagwanji Gond.
“On investigating, the police suspected the deceased's nephew Shankhu and detained him. After the police interrogated the accused, he confessed to killing his aunt and uncle.”
He had apparently done so because of the belief that the woman was a practising witch, and the key reason why “his son got sick and his cattle died”.
He then told the police where he had buried her head, which was recovered and bodies handed over to the deceased couple’s family.
