Couple killed over suspicion of black magic, two held

A woman and her husband were allegedly hacked to death at a village in Pune district of Maharashtra on the suspicion that she was practising black magic, police said on Friday.

The incident took place on Thursday at Aundhe village, around 50 kms from here and the victims were identified as Lilabai Mukane (47) and her husband Navasu Mukane (55), police said.

Two persons, identified as Jaitu Borkar and Baban Mukane, were arrested by Khed police in this connection, they said.

According to a police officer, the deceased woman was a quack, but some people in the village, located in Khed tehsil, suspected that she was practising black magic.

"A few days ago, Borkar's daughter had developed cyst in her abdomen. Borkar suspected that it due to the black magic done by Lilabai," a senior officer at Khed police station said.

"Baban's wife had also developed some rashes on her body and even he suspected that it was due to Lilabai's black magic," he added.

According to the officer, on Thursday both the accused stormed into Mukane's house with sticks and sharp weapons and attacked Lilabai.

"When her husband came to save her, they also hacked him to death with sharp weapons," he added.

After some of their neighbours found the couple lying in a pool of blood, they alerted the police.

"During the probe, Lilabai's daughter told us that in the past her mother had arguments with Borkar. Based on the inputs, he was picked up for questioning. During his interrogation, he spilled the beans and confessed to killing the couple with the help of Baban," he added.

A case under section 302 (murder) has been registered against the duo, police said.