In Bihar, a music system malfunctions and a man is killed over ‘witchcraft’ rumours

“One of the suspects, Mohan Manjhi, was having a celebration at home, and the music system was glitching. The suspect accused the victims of using black magic to stop the system,” Nawada police superintendent Abhinav Dhiman said.

The police received a call about the attack at 8 am on Wednesday. On reaching the scene, the team found Gaya Manjhi dead and his wife Samudri wounded. Samudri is currently at the local district hospital and is stated to be stable and out of danger.

The victim’s body has been sent for an autopsy.

According to police sources, the couple had been facing harassment over witchcraft allegations. After the system malfunctioned on Tuesday, the mob allegedly dragged the couple out of their house, assaulted them, forcibly shaved their heads, smeared them with limestone paste and paraded them with a garland of footwear around their necks.

On Wednesday morning, the police got another call that the crowd was taking the body to the cremation ground and intervened, sources said, adding that the mob had allegedly planned to burn the woman alive.

According to SP Dhiman, 17 people – nine women and seven men – were arrested. Among them was Mohan Manjhi. “Their arrests were based on the statements provided by the victim’s wife. Further investigations are underway,” he said.