Villagers detain Odisha women over sorcery suspicion

Jajpur (Odisha), Aug 12 (PTI) People of a village in Odisha’s Jajpur district detained two women suspecting that a male member of their family was engaged in sorcery, police said on Monday.

The accused man, with the help of the police, rescued his mother and wife.

The incident occurred on Sunday Suninda Sabar Sahi under Jajpur Sadar police station.

Several women of the village were behaving strangely for the past couple of days and others suspected that black magic by a fellow villager was responsible for that, a police officer said.

The angry villagers went to his house on Saturday night but he was not there. Hence, they took his wife and mother and confined them in a room.

When he heard that the villagers had taken away his family members, he approached the local police to rescue his family members.

When Jajpur Sadar police reached the village, irate villagers gheraoed their vehicle, the officer said.

The villagers released the women after the police detained the accused man.

Police personnel were deployed in the village.