Guwahati, Aug 8: A woman was killed on suspicion of practising witchcraft at Kumguri village under Runikhata police station near Assam-Bhutan border in Chirang district on Friday.

The deceased woman has been identified as Bale Mardi (60) of Kumguri village.

Kumguri village is one of the remotest village in Chirang district. A team of police on Sunday had to cross three rivers to reach Kumguri where the murdered occured.

During questioning,  Bajun Kisko, the husband of the deceased, said, “I had gone to one of my relative’s house on Saturday and when I returned to my home around 9 pm, I saw my wife’s body laying outside my house in a pool of blood. I immediately informed the villagers about the incident. I don’t know who killed my wife.”

The villagers later informed Kartik Kisko, son of Bale Mardi, who lives in a nearby village.

The locals of Kumguri village suspect that the family members of  Bale Mardi killed her in suspicion of practising witchcraft.

Runikhata police station circle inspector Ratneswar Barman reached the village along with police personnel to investigate the case.

“One month ago wife of Kartik Kisko died due to to Diarrhoea and other family members are also suffering from many disease. The family members suspected that Bale Mardi practised witchcraft on the family members. Might be the family member killed Bale or they hired somebody to killed her,” the villagers alleged.

Ratneswar Barman said, “Right now we cannot say it was a case of witch-hunting. We are investigating the case and can’t disclose anything related to the case because our investigation is at preliminary stage.”

The dead body has been sent to JSB civil hospital in Kajol Gaon for postmortem.

“Till now we have not arrested any one. But we will soon arrest the murderer who have committed the crime,” said Barman.