Balasore, Dec. 25: A youth today beheaded a 62-year-old man and surrendered himself before Berhampur police in the tribal-dominated Nilgiri area in the district.

The 31-year-old accused, Purushottam Singh, suspected the deceased, identified as Dukha Singh, to be indulging in witchcraft. Both Purushottam and Dukha belonged to the same community and lived at Baghajanta village in the Arabandha area.

The victim’s family members and a few other villagers had been suffering from fever and other ailments. A sorcerer of the area had held five villagers, including the deceased, responsible for the diseases as he said they were indulging in black magic.

Subsequently, a meeting of the village panchayat was held nearly one-and-a-half months ago, and the five villagers — Dukha Singh, Lalmohan Singh, Badal Singh, Nalu Singh and Ruhya Singh — were asked to quit the witchcraft practice and pay Rs 5,000 each to the village.

At the meeting, Dukha had protested against the decision. He had told the gathering that he would not pay the fine. Though the other four, too, did not pay the amount, they did not stage any protest against the panchayat body.It is alleged that at the meeting, the accused had threatened the victim with dire consequences. The deceased had approached local police, which called the villagers and claimed to have made an amicable settlement between the two groups.

The deceased’s son, Jagabandhu Singh, 24, said: “After the meeting, we thought that the issue has been settled. There was no threat from the other side nor was there any other meeting by the villagers. We never expected this to happen.” Last evening, the accused found Dukha in a lonely place returning from the local market. He attacked him, severed his head with a chopper and went to the police.

Sub-divisional police officer S.R. Mahapatra said Purushottam had surrendered before the police and confessed to the crime. “He was arrested on charges of murder and forwarded to the court today,” he said.