Nuapada: Police Friday evening recovered the mutilated body of a 65-year-old man, stuffed inside a gunny bag from a canal near Chanamunda village under Lakhna police limits in this district.
The deceased was identified as Tularam Majhi of Khairani, a neighbouring village. Taking circumstantial evidence into account, the police registered a case of murder and launched a probe. The body was seized and sent for autopsy to the district headquarters hospital.
Locals suspected that Majhi was killed over sorcery and the body was dumped in the canal to erase evidence.
“Nothing has been ascertained as yet. A probe is on,” Lakhna IIC Saroj Kumar Mallick said adding they were waiting for the post-mortem report.
A forensic team and sniffer dogs were pressed into service. Nuapada DSP Rabindra Kumar Sethy reached the village and enquired on the incident.
Preliminary probe revealed Majhi was a sorcerer. Family members of a child had taken him for healing to Majhi as he was suffering from fever. However, the child’s condition deteriorated further and he succumbed to the illness.
Suspecting Majhi of killing the child to appease his deity, locals assaulted him and had warned his family after imposing penalty. Since that day, Majhi mysteriously went missing.
Family members had lodged a missing persons’ complaint in this connection. Family members suspected the child’s family members might have killed Majhi.
Police detained a few locals under suspicion and took them for interrogation, it was learnt.
PNN