Woman murdered by relatives for witchcraft in Chandigarh

A 35-year-old woman was beaten to death allegedly by her brother-in-law and his son on suspicion that she practised 'witchcraft' at a village in Chhattisgarh's Balrampur district, police said on Friday. 

Her brother-in-law Tukan Ram Aghariya (44) and his son Rajesh (24) have been arrested in connection with the murder. "The incident took place on Wednesday when Aghariya and Rajesh consumed liquor and allegedly dragged out Koni Basi from her room and attacked her with sticks, killing her on the spot," Balrampur police station SHO, KK Shukla said.

As per preliminary investigation, Aghariya suspected that Rajesh's child died a few days back due to 'black magic' performed by Koni, he said. The accused were booked under sections 302 (murder), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 34 (common intention) of IPC and the Chhattisgarh Witchcraft Atrocities (Prevention) Act 2005, he said, adding that further probe is on.