2 men kill grandmother over witchcraft suspicions, say they were her next target

The two brothers, Lakshman Kaivarto (23) and Chandan Kaivarto (20) were arrested on Tuesday by a special team led by Seraikela sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Samir Kumar Savaiya.

“The two said they suspected her of practising ‘witchcraft’ which, according to them, brought harm to the family. They said that they were sure that they were her next targets after their father’s death a couple of years ago. At their instance, the severed head of the deceased woman, the butcher knife and the motorcycle used in the murder and then to carry the dead body to the railway track from their Narayanpur village have been seized,” Savaiya said.

The police officer said the railway track where the two men dumped the body was about 10km from the Narayanpur village where the Kaivarto family lives. The officer said the men claimed that they hoped to pass off her murder as a suicide.

Sunil Anand of Anand Marg Pracharak Sangh said there was a need to educate people. “We demand that the state government introduce a chapter of superstitions such as ‘witchcraft’ in school books to make people aware from an early age,” he said.