Kaifi Khan is just about 27. The young man from Cuttack’s Kesharpur put to good use his ‘black magic’ skills and made a fortune. One family spent over six million rupees to get rid of the ‘evil spirits’ from its house. Kaifi made inspections, established the presence of the ‘evil beings’ and furnished the bill. He then found precious stones and metals. Come to think of it, all his victims are from around Cuttack, a predominantly urban space. Most of them are educated. First, he fed on their fear and then he sold them greed. Most fell for his trickery.
In a state which records one of the highest incidences of violence and deaths related to witch-hunting and sorcery, this definitely comes as a surprise that even the informed are not spared the charm of superstition.
One of the not-so-flattering facets of Odisha has been its struggle to arrest witch-hunting and the bloodshed as well as brutality it has brought about over the decades. A decade-old legislation and campaigns by the government, voluntary organizations and rationalists have not yielded much change.
Statistics can throw much light on how hard it has been to break the shackles of superstition. Between 2019 and 2021, the state reported about 29 witchcraft-related murders. When the Odisha Prevention of Witch Hunting Act 2013 came into being in 2014, the number stood at 32. Besides, there are numerous incidents of violence that go unreported.
Most of these come from tribal-dominated districts of the state where the development index is still in need of a boost and gender-related violence are unrelenting. Poor penetration of education and in the absence of formal health care systems, quacks and occult practitioners make the most of the miseries of the poor and gullible. That Keonjhar district even has a memorial for all those killed in witch-hunting – to send a message – is a chilling reminder of how strong are the tentacles of superstition in the state. But what the Kaifi story tells us is less about superstition. It is about how vulnerable we are to greed.
According to police, a precious stone the so-called maulana ‘unearthed’ through his occult practice was a ‘naag mani’. One of his victims even made a trip to Ajmer Sharif. Another was made to pay for the ‘musk’ to be used in the purification of precious metals buried underneath his house. The victims not only made him a ‘crorepati,’ they also gave him full access to the inner sanctums of their homes and minds.
If one browses through the pages of newspapers and digital spaces, one would find similar examples in the hundreds of cyber frauds that are reported across the country. Many are duped because they are ignorant about the nuances of digital transactions but most fall prey to the tricks of making quick money. A software professional of Cuttack, who worked with a US-based firm, befriended a person on Facebook and ended up paying over Rs 20 lakh in exchange for gifts she was promised. The point is between greed and belief, there is a thin line - a line so thin even the educated and informed cannot make sense of.