Rourkela: Police have arrested 11 persons for the murder of a woman who was suspected to be a witchcraft practitioner. The search for three other women accused in the case is on. The cops believe that the accused will be arrested shortly.

On March 2, Jasoda Singh, 50, wife of Fagu Singh, 55, of Rathakhandi village, was brutally killed in a mass attack. The attackers believed that she practised witchcraft and brought bad luck to the village. Singh and his son Kamalesh, 22 were seriously injured and admitted to the hospital in the incident.

The daughter of deceased Gayatri, who had come to celebrate Holi with the family, filed a complaint with the police and named 15 persons of the village for the attack on her family and killing of her mother.

Many believed that the victim practised witchcraft in the village, which is under the Kuanrmunda outpost, nearly 20 km from here.

The villagers believed it was due to her black magic they were facing all kinds of miseries. Some believed that she was causing stomach ailments, prolonged fever and even cough and cold. Some of them even claimed she could change the sex of the child in the womb and due to which many women the village were having girl child.

On the day of the incident, more than 15 persons reached Singh's house around 10pm. They were armed with all kinds of lethal weapons like sickle and axe .

They called Singh and asked about wife. They made several allegation against her claiming that she practised black magic and brought miseries to them. When Singh and his son Kamalesh opposed the claims they were first attacked.

Both the father and son were injured and lost their sense during the attack. The attackers entered the house and dragged the woman and hit her with their weapons. She succumbed to her injuries on the spot.

The daughter of the victim with the help of others managed to take her parents and brother to the Rourkela Government Hospital, where the victim was declared brought dead. The father and son are still in the hospital.