Elderly axed to death over sorcery

RAYAGADA:Superstition-related murders continue to haunt rural parts of the State. An elderly man, accused of sorcery, was brutally axed to death at Kalyansinghpur here on Sunday evening. The deceased was identified as Raimani Miniaka (61) of Karapa Colony.

The incident came to light on Monday after Raimani’s blood-stained body, which was hidden under dry leaves and twigs, was found on the outskirts of the village. Meanwhile, police arrested one Shankarao Kadraka of the same village for Raimani’s murder and forwarded him to court on Tuesday.
Kalyansinghpur IIC Siba Charan Dash said Raimani and his wife Ruai had gone to their farm land for crop cutting. While Ruai returned home after sunset, Raimani stayed back to finish the day’s work.

Dash said while returning home late in the evening, Raimani  was suddenly attacked by Sankarao with an axe. When Raimani did not return home till late in the night, Ruai launched a search for him but to no avail.

The next day, Ruai and her son Gopi Miniaka continued their search and found that Raimani had been murdered. In his complaint, Gopi stated that his father was targeted by villagers on charges of practising sorcery. Raimani had also been ostracised by the villagers.

Moreover, as Sankarao’s father Baina Kadraka was suffering from a prolonged sickness, the family suspected that Raimani did black magic on him. Accused Sankarao nursed a grudge against Raimani as he believed that the latter was practising black magic due to which his father was not recovering from the illness.

Kalyansinghpur block is not only affected by the menace of Left Wing Extremism but also remains under the grip of blind belief and superstitions. The incidence of sorcery-related violence is high in the block.

Last year, Rayagada accounted for seven sorcery-related murders while Ganjam and Gajapati districts witnessed two and three such deaths respectively. Contrary to the belief that such crimes were mostly directed at women, 90 per cent of the deceased persons in these three Southern Odisha districts were men.

In Keonjhar, three persons were killed in January, July and August last year for allegedly practising sorcery.