Sixteen persons have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the murder of a man at a village in Odisha's Ganjam district last month as they suspected him to be practising witchcraft, police said today.
"We have arrested 16 persons for their involvement in the murder of Muna Nayak (35) of Damapur village. They had killed the man suspecting him to be a sorcerer," sub divisional police officer (SDPO) of Aska, B K Nanda, said.
While three persons had been held on Wednesday, the rest were arrested subsequently.
Most of the residents of the village located in Patapur police station limit have been booked as accused in the case, the police said.
After beating Nayak to death on June 16, the accused persons - all tribals set the body afire. The half-burnt body was buried in nearby Mayurimara jungle, inspector-in charge of Patapur police station, Ajay Kumar Barik, said.
The police on Saturday recovered the skeleton and other parts of the body from the place and sent it for labrotary test at MKCG Medical College and Hospital here, Barik said.
Police had earlier registered a missing case, when Laxmi, wife of the deceased had lodged a missing complaint.
During investigation it was found that the man had been killed, police said.
The accused persons alleged the deceased was practising witchcraft and causing death of some children in the village recently, the police said.
