JEYPORE: In an unusual turn of events, Sunabeda police on Saturday burnt two trees believed to be ‘haunted’, in an effort to restore law and order and end week-long panic among villagers across five police station limits in Koraput district.
According to sources, panic first spread after two persons from Subai village under Nandapur police limits died on October 9. Villagers consulted a local dissari (tribal priest-doctor), who claimed that the deaths were caused by evil spirits residing in two trees, a banyan tree and a peepal tree, on the outskirts of the village. Following his advice, villagers uprooted the trees and attempted to dispose of them in a nearby river.
However, residents of Pitaguda village opposed the move, fearing that dumping the “haunted” trees near their area would bring misfortune. The disagreement quickly escalated, and rumours of ghostly trees carrying evil spirits spread like wildfire across Nandapur, Semiliguda, Pottangi, Koraput, and Dasmantpur blocks.
As fear gripped the region, villagers began blocking roads, stopping vehicles at night, and even chasing commuters, suspecting that the uprooted trees were being transported through their villages. Despite repeated awareness drives and community meetings by the police, the superstitious panic persisted.
To prevent further unrest, the Sunabeda police took custody of the tree logs on October 12 and kept them at the police station premises. However, the move backfired as locals began avoiding the police station, terrified that the “ghost trees” would harm them. The situation worsened when even forest officials hesitated to take custody of the logs.
Finally, on the advice of local tribal leaders, the police decided to burn the trees in front of hundreds of villagers and officials to symbolically end the rumours.
Confirming the development, Sunabeda SDPO Sumintra Jena said, “The so-called haunted tree logs kept inside the police station have been burnt to ashes to put an end to the blind belief.”