Chhattisgarh Man Dies After Occultist Uses Hot Trident To "Drive Out Evil Spirit"

A mentally-challenged man died in Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district days after an occultist branded him with a hot trident on multiple occasions in order to "drive out evil spirit" and cure him of his illness, police said on Wednesday.

The occultist was arrested on Tuesday on the charge of murder, they said.

The incident came to light after a villager informed the police that the victim, identified as Fekuram Nirmalkar (35), who died in Podi village under Ratanpur police station limits, had multiple burn marks on his body, a police official in Bilaspur said.

During the interrogation, Nirmalkar's wife Ganga Bai told the police that her husband had been suffering from some mental illness since the last few months and was availing treatment for it, he said.

"Recently, she came in touch with the tantrik from Junwani village under Malhar police station area of the district. Rajak claimed that the man is under the influence of evil powers and he can free him from it. She took her husband to the tantrik on October 23, following which the latter subjected the man to occult practices and branded him with hot trident on several occasions for four days," he said.

After her husband's condition worsened, the woman brought him back home on October 26, where he died on October 30, he said.

"The short post-mortem report of Nirmalkar revealed that he succumbed to infection due to burn injuries on his body," the official said.

A case was registered in this connection and the accused occultist was arrested on charges of murder, he said, adding that further investigation into the matter is underway.

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