BERHAMPUR:Pattapur police arrested six persons on charges of burning a man alive in Dhepaguda village of Ganjam district on Tuesday. The deceased was identified as Prakash Mallik.
Police said, the villagers suspected Prakash of practicing sorcery for the past few days, which they believed led to the deaths of three members of a family. Inspector-in-Charge of Pattapur police station Ajay Barik said, a villager Runa Mallik died on Monday night after slipping from a ladder. Runa’s relatives took the corpse to the local graveyard and Prakash also accompanied them, unaware of the impending threat on his life. As the cremation was on, Runa’s relatives beat Prakash mercilessly, leaving him unconscious and threw him in the funeral pyre.
The ghastly act came to fore on Tuesday morning after Prakash’s son Nabin Mallik informed police who rushed to the spot and seized some bones. They also detained 10 persons. During inquiry, the detained villagers said that three members of Runa’s family met with a accidental deaths in past one year and they believed that the deaths were due to Prakash’s sorcery practice.