Baripada, Oct. 12: The Mayurbhanj police has arrested five persons for allegedly assaulting a 60-year-old suspecting him of practising black magic.

Although the incident occurred on October 2 at a village in Similipal, the arrests were made on Saturday after the victim, Kaira Hembram, recovered from the injuries and lodged an FIR with the police on Friday.

The arrested have been identified as Bishnu Tiu, 26, Hathi Kandegel, 25, Mohanty Barjya, 26, Suklal Barjya, 24, and Katisa Barjya, 22, of the same village. They were sent to the jail after their bail pleas were rejected.

They had not only attacked the victim, but also not spared his 53-year-old wife, who had tried to stop them from beating up her husband.

It is alleged that the accused persons had visited his house after they found their missing hens in his house. They suspected that Hembram had stolen their birds to sacrifice them as part of his black magic. They also alleged that in the past, the village had faced problems because of the sorcery being practised by the victim.They dragged him out of the house and rained blows and kicks on him. When his wife protested, they assaulted her too. Hembram was admitted initially to a local health centre at Jashipur and was later treated at the Karanjia hospital, the police said.

Inspector in charge of Jashipur police station Pravat Biswal said: “The complainant was beaten up mercilessly by the accused. They have also alleged that some children had died due to his black magic.” Madhusudan Nanda, a social activist, said: “Superstitions continue to prevail in the tribal pockets despite awareness drives.”