GAUHATI, India — Four members of a family were killed by angry villagers who accused them of practicing witchcraft in India’s remote northeast, police and area residents said Wednesday.
The accusations began when a villager died last week after consuming herbal medication given to him by the family, which practiced traditional medicine, said Bhaben Kumar, a neighbor in Koilajuli village, 160 miles northeast of Gauhati, the capital of Assam state.
Several local residents invited the man, his wife, son and daughter-in-law to a village gathering Tuesday, where they were beaten with sticks and pelted with stones until they fell unconscious, Kumar said.
The four were then dumped into a pit and covered with mud, police said.
Many people continue to believe in black magic and dozens of people are beaten or killed every year for practicing witchcraft.
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