Two held after woman killed over witchcraft suspicion in West Singhbhum

A 58-year-old woman was allegedly killed in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district on suspicion of practising witchcraft, with police arresting two men in connection with the crime.

The body of Shankarin Surin was found on the night of September 15 in a forest near Sadaburu-Pasubeda village, under Pandavir panchayat in the Chaibasa Mufassil police station area, according to the officer-in-charge of the police station, Vinod Kumar.

The two accused were taken into custody on the evening of September 16. Police said the arrested men, who were engaged in mobile tower erection work, admitted during questioning that they had killed the woman because they believed she practised witchcraft. According to the officer, the men claimed she had frequently cursed them, wishing that they would die by falling from mobile towers.

A complaint lodged with the police states that the two men came to the woman's house on the evening of September 15 and took her to the forest, where they struck her with a stone.

After a post-mortem examination at the Sadar Hospital, the body was handed over to the woman's relatives on September 16.