Gumla: Gripped with superstition, eight villagers in connivance with nearly 70 other residents of Buruhatu Pahar Amtoli of Gumla district had murdered the five members of a family, including a five-year-old child, on Tuesday, police said on Friday after the arrest of eight of the accused.
On Thursday, police had stayed tight-lipped about the motive of crime, citing pending protocols, but had hinted the family was killed on suspicion of practicing witchcraft.
Throwing light on the incident, Gumla SP Hrudeep P Janaradhanan said, “In the last few months, a couple of people had died in the village and the Topno family was accused of practicing witchcraft on them. On Tuesday morning, eight of the main conspirators huddled with 70 others from the village and a kangaroo court was set up at a football ground which decided to eliminate the elderly couple — Nikodin Topno (70) and his wife Josefina (55).”
He further said, “The accused and other villagers gathered at the same football ground at night and from there, reached the couple’s house where they first killed Nikodin and Josefina with axes and other sharp weapons and then turned towards the couple’s son Vincent (35), his wife Silvanti (30) and their son Albin (5), who were present at the house, as a precaution so that they do not inform police.”
Those arrested were identified as Sunil Topno (30), Philip Topno (55), Soma Topno (25), Phirangi Topno (45), Salim Topno (25), Amrit Topno (30), Sawan Topno (34) and Daniel Topno (40). Barring Daniel, who is a resident of neighbouring Buruhatu Badkatoli village, the rest hail from the Buruhatu Pahar Amtoli hamlet. “Interestingly, Amrit is Nikodin’s nephew and had accompanied police for the post-mortem of the bodies on Wednesday. All the eight have been sent to jail,” Janaradhanan said.
The SP said the special investigation team (SIT), led by Basia sub-divisional police officer Deepak Kumar, found four blood-stained axes, two hand adzes, the blood-stained slippers of Soma Topno and the blood-stained trousers of Dilip Topno.
“While the accused were booked for murder, possession of weapons and other sections of the IPC, the village dwellers, who took part in the meeting, have been booked under Section 107 of the IPC,” Deo Pratap Pradhan, the officer in-charge of the Kamdara police station told TOI.
Meanwhile, BJP’s state president Deepak Prakash criticised chief minister Hemant Soren after his Thursday visit to the village. He demanded Anjali Topno, the lone survivor of the family, to be looked after by the state government.
“Three days have passed and not one minister of the state, neither the MLAs from the ruling dispensation have visited the village. The CM should have gone there himself,” Prakash said.
“JMM, which claims to be the messiah of the tribal people, is not sensitive towards them. Adivasis are being attacked and this government is insensitive towards the crimes,” Prakash said.
Sharpening his attack on Hemant, Prakash said, “The CM was not aware of the killings even after hours had passed. What sort of information system does he have? The criminals plotted the killings in the hamlet and met again after executing the gruesome act, but police didn’t even get a whiff of it. What kind of a state are we living in?” Prakash questioned.
The Rajya Sabha MP also claimed that his party functionaries, workers and supporters will soon orchestrate state-wide protests and hit the streets if the Hemant government does not act swiftly to curb crimes and lawlessness in the state.
(With inputs from Dhritiman Ray in Ranchi)