Rajahmundry: A tribal man on Thursday severed the head of an elderly tribal woman from her torso suspecting that she was involved in black magic.
He claimed that the woman had caused the death of three members of his family at Gungugudem village of Rampachodava-ram mandal in East Godavari through her evil intentions.
According to Rampacho-davaram police, Yeleru Chinna Rao approached the woman, Kadabala Satyavathi, 52, in the village suspecting her involvement in the death of his father, mother and younger brother between 2014 and 2016. He had an argument with the woman who allegedly practicing black magic on them.
The woman, he claimed, chose the three for killing through practicing black magic. The woman even threatened to kill Yeleru and his family members with the same practice. Angered by her response, the man wanted to eliminate her.
After some time, he found Kadabala lying on the road face down after consuming heavy dose of liquor as was the usual practice in agency areas. He assaulted her with a sickle on her neck causing her death instantaneously. Later, he separated her head from the torso leaving her in a pool of blood. He wanted to carry to carry the head to the police station. However, since the police station was far from the location of the axxault, he approached the village elders and confessed the crime. Based on information given by the elders, police arrested the man and booked a case under Section 302 of IPC and investigation is on.