BALASORE: Yet another sorcery related incident raised its ugly head in Balasore district. A 60-year-old man was locked in a room for two days by a group of villagers in Tulasidiha of Balasore district suspecting him of practicing blackmagic.
Police rescued him on Wednesday and has initiated a probe into the incident.
Sources said, the victim Kati Singh was branded a sorcerer at a village committee meeting a couple of days back. As per a decision taken at the meeting, he was confined to a room and tortured by the villagers.
It all started after some persons of the village suffered from fever. They consulted a tantrik, who told villagers that it was the result of blackmagic and named Singh of practicing sorcery. Being staunch believers of the tantrik, they held Singh responsible for the fever and penalised him.
Police said, the villagers believed that Singh performed blackmagic on the family, members of which suffered from prolonged illness. To verify it, the villagers along with Surendra went to a kalisi (village godman). They were fully convinced when the kalisi confirmed Singh a sorcerer.
The villagers decided to keep him confined. Meanwhile, tension gripped the village as the people were in no mood to free Singh and hand him over to police.
In the recent past, the region has seen several sorcery related killings.
Inspector-in-charge of Nilagiri police station Kartik Mallick said, “Singh has been kept in police station as his life is in danger. We have identified the accused persons who had kept him confined and they would be arrested soon,” he added.