Tribal couple killed under witchcraft suspicion

Odisha Channel Bureau Baripada, August 2: In the latest witchcraft-related murder, an elderly tribal couple met a gory end in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district.A superstitious-bound man hacked to death the couple – Ankura Purty (65) and Mukta Purty (60) – from Dhanusahi village suspecting them to be practitioners of witchcraft.The 24-year-old assailant Bira Singh Bari committed the cold-blooded murder of the couple and surrendered before the local police on Friday with the weapon used in the crime.While confessing to the crime, Bira was unrepentant.He was under the firm belief that couple cast evil spell on two of his younger brothers leading to their untimely death last year, said an official.Witchcraft has led to several killings and human torture in the human settlements predominantly inhabited by tribal people in Mayurbhanj district.Thanks to lack of education, dogmatic belief in witches and evil spirits causing calamities from famine to flood is widespread among tribal communities in these areas.Recent rise in cases of witchcraft-related murder has become a major cause of worry for law-enforcing agencies in Mayurbhanj and Sundargarh districts.