Angry villagers in a remote north Orissa village beheaded four persons including a woman suspecting them to be practitioners of black magic. The incident occurred in Pratapur village under Nilagiri police station in Balasore district.

Though the incident had taken place on August 26, it came to light only on Thursday after the local police fished out three headless bodies packed in gunny bags from a river near the village.

It had all started on August 14 when the minor son of a village ward member died when he was bitten by a snake while sleeping. The villagers believed that the “magic snake” was sent by the four identified as Tia Singh, Budhini Singh, Rabi Singh and Somabari Singh, all in their 40s and belonging to Kolha tribal community.

After the eleven day mourning, the villagers convened a meeting where the four were held responsible for the boy’s  death.

Soon after, the gathering awarded death penalty to the four tribals, two of them were reportedly beheaded on the spot while two others were taken to the nearby river and killed.

The police have not been able to arrest anybody in connection with the case as all male folks of the village have fled from their homes after the recovery of the headless dead bodies.