Baripada, Feb. 16: Police have arrested a 22-year-old man of Angarua village in Baisinga for allegedly killing his 45-year-old aunt suspecting her of practising witchcraft.

After killing her, Kanda Soren, the accused, went to the local police station and surrendered. He had allegedly hit the victim, Srimati Soren, on the head with a chopper from behind. She died on the spot.

Villagers said that the accused, who lays cable lines, had got married recently.

However, the couple were suffering from bad health since the marriage and Kanda held Srimati responsible for that. He had consulted some local sorcerers who had accused her of indulging in black magic.

About a month ago, Kanda had an altercation with Srimati. But the matter was resolved after local residents intervened. However, the health of Kanda’s wife deteriorated recently and this infuriated him. When he found Srimati alone near a pond in the village, he attacked her from behind and killed her.

Inspector in charge of the local police station Niranjan Das said: “Kanda said he killed her to subside his anger.”