Ranchi: In another case of mob lynching, four persons were thrashed and killed in the Gumla district of Jharkhand on Sunday.
According to police, a group of 10-12 masked people attacked a family in the Siskari village in the wee hours of Sunday. The attackers dragged the victims out of a house, thrashed them and later slit their throats. The victims have been identified Suna Oraon (65), Champa Oraon (79), Fagni Oraine (60) and Piro Oraine (74)
“It seems the attackers believed the victims were practicing witchcraft,” said Anajani Kumar Jha, Gumla Superintendent of Police.
According to information available from the police, the villagers blamed the family for some bad occurrences in the village. The local panchayat was summoned at around 3.00 am, which decided to punish the family for practicing witchcraft.
Senior police officers have reached the village and bodies have been sent for post-mortem. No one has been arrested till now. Police have launched a search to nab the accused, he said
More than 1,000 people have been killed on the suspicion of practicing witchcraft in Jharkhand in the past two decades.
Agencies