THE TELEGRAPH (Calcutta, India) 22 September 05 Tortoise ‘hunt’ kills villager (R. Krishna Das)
Raipur: Belief in witchcraft led to the death of a farmer at a village in Raigarh district last evening.
Two other villagers died when they went in search of the farmer inside a well he had entered to catch a tortoise on the instructions of a witchdoctor. The incident took place in Piphara village, about 300 km from here.
According to police sources, a witchdoctor told Lalchand, the farmer, that a “lucky’ tortoise with 20 nails was staying in his farm well and that it would make him wealthy if he kept the animal in the house.
Falling for the witchdoctor’s words, Lalchand decided to catch the tortoise. Yesterday afternoon, he went to the farm with his friend Indro and two other villagers, Panchas and Sudama.
After reaching the farm, Lalchand entered the well in search of the well. When he did not come out even after an hour, Panchas and Sudama got down. They, too, did not come out.
When the bodies floated in the evening, Indro brought the matter to the notice of Saria police and a team was sent to the spot. The police officials investigating the incident said some poisonous gas was leaking in the well, which led to the death of the three villagers.
The police have launched a manhunt to find the witchdoctor, who has fled.
Tortoise ‘hunt’ kills villager