E-Paper
The call of prosperity spells doom for two women
IN A shocking incident, an exorcist, in the name of driving out evil spirits and invoking Goddess Lakshmi for prosperity, killed two women in a village in Mau district in the wee hours of Tuesday. Besides, the incident, which sparked off clash among the family members of the two women, caused injury to ten persons.
IN A shocking incident, an exorcist, in the name of driving out evil spirits and invoking Goddess Lakshmi for prosperity, killed two women in a village in Mau district in the wee hours of Tuesday. Besides, the incident, which sparked off clash among the family members of the two women, caused injury to ten persons.
Sources said Radhey Shyam Gupta, an exorcist and close relative of a family residing in Astapura Mohalla under Dakshintola police station, told his in-laws that he would drive away the evil spirits from their house and invite Goddess Lakhsmi for prosperity.
On reaching the house, the exorcist started using various household items to beat up the two women. As the exorcist had assured that he would drive away evil spirits and invite Goddess Lakhsmi for prosperity, the women did not react to the beating. Sources said that every household item, including spoons and sticks, were used to beat up the two women members. of the family. Suddenly, other members of the family realised that there was something wrong in the activities of the exorcist. As they tried to stop the exorcist from beating the two women, a clash broke out among the family members.
The two women, identified as Bindu (18) and Premsheela Gupta, wife of the exorcist Radhya Shyam Gupta, were killed in the clash. At least ten members of the family were injured in the incident.
Reports said that a woman of the family, Renu, was suffering from some mysterious ailment and the exorcist relative assured the woman that he would cure her. As the exorcist started prayer, the two women felt uneasy. This provoked the exorcist to beat up the two women to ward off the evil spirit.
The beating caused their deaths. Reacting to the incident, SP (Mau) Miya Din Karandhar, said, “We have taken three persons, including two women and Radhya Shyam Gupta into custody and registered a case against them for causing deaths.” Surprisingly, the exorcist even killed his wife, the SP said.
He said Gupta had assured the aggrieved the family members that he would be able to bring the two women back to life once the sun rose. “When nothing happened, they informed the police about the incident,” the SP said.
