Elderly woman beaten to death on 'witchcraft suspicion' in Bihar

A 60-year-old woman was beaten to death on the suspicion of practising witchcraft at a village in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district on Sunday, police said. The deceased has been identified as Kusum Devi, wife of one Ram Vilas Thakur of Dargah village, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) (East) Gaurav Pandey said. Around half-a-dozen strongmen of a particular family of the village caned the old woman to death after branding her as a "witch", he said.

The body has been sent to Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital here for post-mortem. The deceased's family has not registered an FIR in this regard till Sunday evening, Pandey said. The family members of the deceased said they would lodge an FIR only after getting the post-mortem report, he said.

(With inputs from agencies.)