Bhubaneswar, April 10 (IANS) Three tribal youth were arrested in Orissa’s Cuttack district for beheading an elderly man on suspicion that he practised sorcery that caused illnesses in the village, the police said Thursday. The youths beheaded Baraju Hembram, 60, at Abhayapur village, some 35 km from here, with an axe when his family members were not at home Tuesday evening, police official of the area S.K. Kar told IANS by phone.

One of the accused, Bhagaban Bandra, told the police that Hembram was practicing witchcraft and was responsible for the death of his brother-in-law Dasarath April 6.

“Since many villagers in the past also developed similar illness, we decided to kill him,” Bandra, who works as a labourer at a construction site, told the police.

The police sent the body and the head for autopsy. The axe used in the crime has been sent for medical examination.