Man dies of ‘snakebite’, kin call sorcerer to revive him

Bhawanipatna: The malaise of superstitious beliefs returned to haunt Odisha when a sorcerer tried to resurrect a youth who had died of suspected snakebite in the Kalahandi district headquarters hospital, here on Thursday.
The sorcerer was engaged by the youth’s family members who, along with some locals, tried to forcibly enter the hospital’s mortuary and snatch the youth’s body so that he could be revived using black magic.
Satish Gopal (21), a native of Dumermunda village under Kesinga police station limits of Kalahandi district, woke up on Thursday morning complaining of headache. He suspected he had been bitten by a snake. The family called a sorcerer, Sadhuram Sahu (65), to cure him. Sadhuram chanted some mantras in a bid to remove the poison.
Later, Satish, accompanied by his father Biswanath Gopal, went to Kesinga hospital at around 6.30am, riding a bike. Doctors at Kesinga referred him to Bhawanipatna hospital, some 30 km away since the hospital did not possess an anti-venom serum. By then his condition had deteriorated and he had to be taken to Bhawanipatna hospital in an ambulance. Additional district medical officer (Kalahandi), Jagulal Agrawal said Satish was admitted to the district hospital at around 8.35 in the morning. He died around 9.30am after he was administered the anti-venom serum.
“When the body was sent for post mortem, around 80 villagers who had gathered there by then, tried to enter the mortuary forcibly. They were accompanied by a sorcerer, who attempted to revive Satish,” Jagulal said.
Apprehending trouble, hospital authorities called the police. Bhawanipatna town police station in-charge, Satya Narayan Nanda, said, “The villagers tried to break open the lock of the mortuary and get hold of the body even before the autopsy had been done. They believed the sorcerer will help the youth return to life.” However, Satish’s father claimed, “We could have saved my son had the doctors handed over the body to us.”
Additional SP (Kalahandi) Gopinath Manipatra said the body was handed over to the villagers after the autopsy was done.
It must be mentioned here that last month, a sorcerer had attempted to revive a 40-year-old woman, suspected to have died of snake bite, on the premises of Padampur sub-divisional headquarters hospital in Bargarh district.