Agartala, April 07, 2023: Tripura police arrested eight persons in connection to a case of burying witch’s body as the woman is alleged to have performed witchcraft at Lengtibari in Behalabari area under Khowai district in the late night of Thursday last.

Speaking to Northeast Today, a police official said “We have to come to know that a group of people had abducted a woman and may have been killed. However, we began search operation but failed to trace the woman. Based on inputs from sources, some youths have been detained and they have revealed of killing a woman in the preliminary investigation. Depending on their statement, we have recovered the body of the woman buried in an abandoned toilet in presence of the Executive Magistrate.”

Meanwhile, her husband Ranjan Kanda said that the accused persons chased him and his wife. “We ran and I managed to escape, but my wife was trapped by them. We had returned from the cremation as my elder brother died yesterday. In our tradition, we consume locally made liquor during cremation rituals. All of them were with me at the spot and all of a sudden, they chased us”, he added.

The police official said that the deceased woman has been identified as Kaushalya Ghatual (45) was allegedly murdered on the suspicion of being a witch and suspected to have been performing witchcraft.

“On the late night of Thursday last, we have managed to nab all the eight accused persons. They have confessed that the woman has been kidnapped by them and later murdered on the suspicion of performing witchcraft. Police recovered the dead body and shifted to the mortuary ward of the Khowai district hospital”, the senior cop said.

The accused persons are- Charitra Kanda (40), Mithun Kanda (18), Akash Kanda (18), Kajal Kanda (65), Sanjit Kanda (20), Bimal Kanda (19), Ajit Kanda (25) and Chandan Tanti (35).

“A specific case has been registered against all of them and investigation had begun”, he added.