Woman claiming to be possessed by goddess held for drugging people

An Assam Police team found a woman in an unconscious state and three others including a man who appeared to be intoxicated from the house of the accused woman

A woman claiming to be possessed by a goddess, and her three relatives, have been arrested for an attempt to murder in Assam’s Dibrugarh district for allegedly trying to cure people, including children, by drugging them. Local news reports claimed the accused planned to sacrifice two women and a girl. But the police have denied this even as they rescued the three along with a man from the woman’s house.

Police said initial probe showed that the accused woman claimed to have been possessed by a goddess and was performing various rituals to treat others of their diseases (Representative image)

“Following a tip-off, our team found a woman in an unconscious state and three others including a man who appeared to be intoxicated from the house of the accused woman. All of them were rescued,” said Dibrugarh police superintendent Shwetank Mishra. “Initial probe shows the accused woman claimed to have been possessed by a goddess and was performing various rituals to treat others of their diseases. It appears she and her family members used to drug those who came for treatment. We found marijuana from her house.”

Police said the accused woman, her son, and two other family members have also been booked for possession of illicit drugs.