Couple burnt alive for ‘black magic’
A middle-aged man and his wife were tied to a pole and burnt alive by his brothers in full public view at Dubbak village in Siddipet district, Telangana, on Thursday evening.
Kadaverlu Sudershan, 56, and Rajeshwari, 52, succumbed to burns at Secunderabad’s Gandhi Hospital in the early hours of Friday. Accused Srinivasulu and Mallesham are still at large.
Siddipet police commissioner V Siva Kumar said the accused believed Sudershan was responsible for killing their father through black magic a year ago. However, he did not rule out a property dispute between Sudershan and his younger brothers as the motive either.
Kumar said the duo, both residents of BC Colony in Dubbak, convinced local residents that Sudershan had been practising sorcery for some time now.
Srinivasulu and Mallesham attacked Sudershan and his wife at their residence on Wednesday and dragged them outside.
They tied the couple to an electric pole and beat them up, before dousing them with kerosene and setting them afire . When Sudershan’s children tried rescuing them, the accused poured kerosene over them too.
A mass meeting, attended by over 150 people including 11 US nationals in a church at Dathauli of Maharajganj district, was stopped midway by police after the rightwing Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) accused the church missionaries of carrying out conversion .
“No prior permission was taken before the meeting. We stopped the meet after HYV workers registered a complaint with us. A probe is underway and appropriate action will be taken if charges are found true,” Anand Kumar Gupta, SHO, Dathauli said.
The HVY has filed a complaint against Yu Hannan Adam, pastor of the church. HTC