After four days’ missing of a seven-year-old tribal girl, her family members on Tuesday found her mutilated body at Mathalput in Koraput district which triggered tension in the area.
Villagers blocked the road near Mathalput, which leads to Damanjodi, for several hours demanding immediate arrest of the culprits and adequate compensation to the family of the deceased Class-I student.
The villagers suspected that the girl was killed by some sorcerer. “As the girl’s tongue was slit and her body bore several burn scars, we believed that she was killed by some sorcerer,” said an irate villager, adding, “We demand adequate compensation to the bereaved family.”
The police said girl had gone to play with her friends after returning from school on Saturday last. Her family lodged a missing person complaint at the Damanjodi police station on Sunday after failing to locate her. “A team has been sent to the village, and we are probing the incident from all its angles. It could be a case of sorcery, but we can’t conclude anything at this stage,” SDPO (Sunabeda) VR Rao said on Wednesday.