Raipur Double Murder: Neighbour Hacks Elderly Farmer Couple to Death, Blaming Them for His Mother’s Death
RAIPUR: A 22-year-old man has been arrested for hacking an elderly farmer couple to death at their home in Birbira village, under Arang police station limits, near the state capital. Police said he suspected they had used witchcraft to cause his mother’s death.
The accused, identified as Rocky Sahu, lived next door to the couple. Police said he entered their house, attacked both with an axe and a sickle, and inflicted so many blows that the woman’s eyes had come out of their sockets. The bodies were found in a decomposed condition.
What happened
According to police, Sadashi Sahu (65) and his wife Asabati Sahu (62) went to sleep after dinner on October 6. Around 11.30 pm, the accused allegedly came down from the roof of his own house, carrying an axe and a sickle, to reach the couple’s home.
He first struck Sadashi, who was sleeping in one room, on the head with the axe. He then went to the other room, where Asabati was asleep, and attacked her on the head, face and throat. He then used the sickle on her chest and abdomen.
After the killings, the accused allegedly took the silver waistband (kamarbandh), aithi, necklace and gold jewellery the woman was wearing. He also took a ring, toe-rings and coins kept in the house.
Police said he washed the blood-stained weapons in a drain, put them in a white sack and hid them in bushes along the roadside on Tamasiwani Road.
Discovery and investigation
On October 8, village sarpanch Chamman Lal Sahu informed police that the couple’s bodies had been found in the house. Police found them in separate rooms. A dog squad and forensic science laboratory (FSL) team were called to the scene and collected evidence.
Motive
The accused’s mother died a year ago. Police said he suspected that the couple had performed witchcraft on her and held them responsible for her death. This, they said, was the reason for the murders.
Arrest and recoveries
Acting on information given by the accused, police recovered an axe (tangiya), a sickle, a pair of blood-stained jeans and the stolen gold and silver jewellery. He has been arrested and sent to jail on judicial remand.
Police have also added sections of the Chhattisgarh Tonhi Pratadna Act, the state’s law against harassment of women branded as witches, to the case.
The victims
The couple were farmers who cultivated about 10 acres of land. They have two sons, who work in Raipur, and two married daughters, who live at their in-laws’ homes.
