Baripada, Nov. 25: Thirty-year-old Markand Ho murdered Sridhar Samad, 70, suspecting him of practising black magic in Mayurbhanj district.

At least 10 people in the tribal-dominated Mayurbhanj district have fallen prey to witch hunt this year.

In the latest incident, Ho severed the victim’s head and surrendered before police with the head. He was arrested and forwarded to court today.

Officer in charge of Sarat police station Naba Kumar Das said: “The accused confessed to the crime. He had surrendered with the severed head and the weapon. He was booked under section 302 of the IPC.”

During interrogation, Ho told the police that he believed that Samad, who was a bachelor, was instrumental in creating problems in his family by practising black magic.

Ho had been married for four years but his wife hadn’t been able to conceive. He said she often remained sick despite having no disease as such.

When he consulted a sorcerer, the latter blamed Samad for his problems.

Yesterday around 1.30pm, when victim’s nephew was out for some work, Ho entered Samad’s house with an axe and beheaded him.

Then, he put the head in a bag and went to the local gram rakhi (village guard) and told him all that had happened. The grama rakhi took him to the local police station in Sarat. The accused confessed to the police that he had killed Samad.

Apart from the witch-hunt killings that have taken place this year, several people have been subjected to torture.

On November 9, Baripada police had arrested a 29-year-old man on the charge of killing a 75-year-old widow, suspecting her to be a witch.

Dowry case

Paradip police have arrested a man and his parents from their house on the outskirts of Paradip on the charge of subjecting the man's wife to mental and physical torture on dowry-related grounds.

Unable to cope with the torture, the 32-year-old woman, Henarani Biswal, had attempted to end her life by setting herself on fire.