Five members of family burnt alive in Bihar’s Purnia district on allegation of witchcraft

Five members of a family, three of them women, were burnt alive in Purnia district of Bihar over allegations of practising witchcraft, the police said.

The incident took place on Sunday (July 6, 2025) night at Tetgama village under Muffasil police station limits.

Speaking to The Hindu, Purnia Deputy Inspector-General of Police Pramod Kumar Mandal said, “The child of a resident, Ramdev Mahto, fell ill and he had approached Babulal Oraon, 50, for treatment but the child did not survive. The death happened three days ago. Hence, Oraon and his family were beaten with sticks and then burnt alive. The bodies were stuffed into sacks and dumped.”

Mr. Mandal further said that three persons were arrested in connection with the incident and a tractor used to dump the bodies was seized.

Also read: ‘Health a major reason behind witchcraft-related violence’

The murders were witnessed by Oraon’s 16-year-old son, who managed to escape and inform his maternal grandparents. The murders were then disclosed to the police, who recovered the burnt bodies, the officer added.

The deceased were identified as Oraon, Sita Devi, 48, Kato Devi, 65, Manjit Oraon, 25, and Rani Devi, 23.

The 16-year-old told the media that his mother was accused of performing witchcraft and a meeting was held on Sunday (July 6, 2025) night under the leadership of Nakul Oraon.

“About 200 people attended the meeting. My father and mother were called and the villagers decided to kill them. They were assaulted with sticks and then burnt alive after being doused in petrol. Their bodies were loaded on a tractor and taken to a deserted place and dumped,“ the minor body said while speaking to the media on Monday.

As soon as the information was received, the personnel from Mufassil police station and two other stations reached the spot.

Superintendent of Police Sweety Sahrawat and Assistant SP Alok Ranjan also reached the spot to investigate the case.

Mufassil Station House Officer Uttam Kumar said the tractor driver and Mr. Nakul Oraon have been arrested and police had recovered all five bodies on Monday (July 7, 2025).

Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Tejashwi Yadav slammed the government over the incident, and took a dig at Deepak Kumar, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. He posted on X: “In Purnia, 5 members of the same family were burned alive and killed. Due to DK Tax, anarchy is at its peak in Bihar, DGP/CS helpless, law and order collapsed. Day before yesterday in Siwan, 3 people were killed in a massacre, 3 died in Buxar and 3 in Bhojpur. Criminals are alert, Chief Minister unconscious, Corrupt Bhoonja Party thriving, police defeated! DK is enjoying it because DK is the real boss.”