In a sensational yet bizarre incident, a man beat his uncle to death as part of his witchcraft ritual and tried to cover up the incident by terming the whole episode as “God’s wish”.
The incident occurred at Pulimetala village in Malkangiri district, where accused Ramesh Padiami tried to mislead people by arranging a witch-hunting ceremony in which he killed his uncle Ganga Madkami. He also performed his shambolic tricks with his dead uncle by his side to mislead the people and proclaim that the death of his uncle was awarded by God. Ganga was allegedly plotting to kill Ramesh by using sorcery. To checkmate him, Ramesh prepared a strategy to kill Ganga. He arranged the sorcery ritual during a village function and beat his uncle to death. Police soon arrived at the spot and detained Ramesh and six others, who are being questioned in connection with the case.
“When gods rise, we humans can’t interfere as we will be punished. The gods were carrying sticks. The persons who were possessed by the gods beat him to death,” said accused Ramesh.Manoj Kumar, officer in-charge of the Pateru police outpost said, “Suspecting Ganga to be a sorcerer, some people killed him.”