The Rayagada police on Friday recovered headless bodies of two tribals who were hacked to death on suspicion of practising witchcraft at Nathma village in Rayagada district on Thursday.
The police found the bodies of the deceased, Apadu Melaka and litika Pidika, from Kalingi forest near the village in the morning.
Sources said the police got information regarding whereabouts of the bodies from two villagers, Niranjan Meleka and Melesi Minieka, after detaining them for hours.
The detained persons led the police to the spot where the villagers had buried the bodies. The heads and genitals of the deceased had been burnt a short distance away from the place where the bodies had been buried, police sources said.
Niranjan admitted that he had taken the lead in killing Melaka and Pidika.
“I had gone to a soothsayer who told me that these people were responsible for my son’s death and my wife’s illness,” he told.
He said they burnt the heads and genitals of the deceased since he was told by the soothsayer that they could come back to life if he did not do that.
Notably, the matter came to light after a group of journalists rescued litika’s daughter Sukuri from Nathma village on Thursday. The woman had informed the police about the murder of her father and Apudu, an ex-Samiti member.