Jamshedpur: Police in East Singhbhum district on Monday arrested a 25-year-old man for allegedly killing an elderly woman on March 4 on the suspicion of being a witch. The accused was identified as Raju Puran.Police said that during interrogation, Puran said that his mother was not keeping well for the past several months, which prompted him to believe that someone was practising witchcraft. A resident of Kakikapur village, Puran works in a factory in Gujarat. His younger brother, who takes care of his mother in Kakipur, had told him over the phone about their mother’s declining health. Puran also claimed that he often saw the deceased woman, identified as Subhashini Nayak, in his dreams.“Narrating his nightmares, he (Puran) claimed that he was often confronted by the elderly woman in his dreams, threatening to eliminate his family,” said officer-in-charge of Potka police station, Sunny Toppo.Puran returned home to be with his family during Holi. On March 4, Subhashini was walking to the nearby ‘haat’ (market) to sell twigs. Spotting her on an isolated stretch, Puran pushed her to the ground and slit her throat, killing her on the spot. He body was found in a paddy field in Kakipur.Initially, police detained him for questioning. Police later recovered the knife from the accused and arrested him.
