The couples in the police van. Picture by Surajit Roy

Malda, Oct. 27: Two couples were rescued in the nick of time today, as police had come to know about the villagers’ conspiracy to kill them after branding them witches.

Nagen Pahari and Buddhu Pahari with their wives, both named Shanti, were being beaten up and would probably had been lynched if a force had from Englishbazar police not arrived at Paharipara around 11am after being tipped off. The village is located at a stone’s throw from the house of the late ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury, 13km from here. It is also the residence of the current Congress MP from Malda and Ghani Khan’s brother, Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury.

The trouble of the two families began about a year ago when the wife one of the accused, Satish, passed away after a brief illness. The villagers felt that the death was because of a spell cast by the families, which performed Kali Puja every year.

Led by Satish, they visited a witch doctor, Bishnu Singh, in a village in North Dinajpur.

Bishnu was brought to Paharipara last week and he allegedly named the two couples, who he said were the “evil presence” in the village. The police said the villagers had collected about Rs 10,000 to pay for the services of the witch doctor and the expenses incurred for his stay and conveyance.

The couples were summoned to a salisi meeting yesterday and told to leave the area. However, Nagen and Buddhu, ignored the threat and decided to carry on with the puja as usual this year.

This morning, the villagers dragged out the two couples from their houses, and started beating them up.

However, at that moment, the officer-in-charge of the Englishbazar police station, Bipul Majumdar, arrived at the spot with a van. “We have kept them at the police station for the moment. We have identified the kingpins of the conspiracy who had egged on the villagers,” Majumdar said.

Malda police chief Satyajit Bandyopadhyay, said the Englishbazar police had acted in time. “They have been able to save four persons from certain death.”