Ranchi: Jharkhand police on Thursday recovered beheaded bodies of three people belonging to the same family from Khunti, a tribal-dominated area located 40 km away from Ranchi. All the family members were allegedly kidnapped more than three weeks ago and were killed for practising witchcraft. Police have arrested three accused.
Police said that the accused, in an attempt to hide the identity of the deceased, had decapitated them. The heads of the deceased were recovered from an isolated location near a pond and the bodies have been sent for autopsy.
The deceased have been identified as Birsa Munda, 48, his wife Sukru Purty, 43, and daughter Somwari Purty, 20, of Kuda village under Saiko police station.
The disappearance of the family members came to light when Birsa's elder daughter lodged a complaint with the police on October 12 about her missing parents and her brother. Police said that Birsa's daughter, who is married, went to visit her parents but she found the doors of the house ajar and things were misplaced.
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The married daughter in her complaint said, "Three people from the village Soma Munda, Vishram Munda and Raghu Munda were at loggerheads with their family in a land dispute case. The Mundas had called my mother 'witch' which had led to an altercation.
The initial inquiry revealed that about scores of miscreants barged into the house of the victim and had reportedly abducted them.
Khunti superintendent of police Ashutosh Shekhar told ETV Bharat, "A special police team was constituted to search for the missing family members. We arrested Soma, Vishram and Raghu and they have confessed to their crime. The accused have confessed that they killed the family as they practised witchhunt."
Deputy superintendent of police Ashish Kumar Mehli said, "The accused beheaded the family members to hide their identities. We recovered the heads of the bodies near Raba river. We are investigating the matter and a manhunt has been launch to arrest the remaining accused."
Police said an initial search launched with dog squads failed to trace the abducted persons.
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