Twenty-three persons, including two women were arrested on charge of attacking a 35-year-old man for allegedly practising black magic at a village in Odisha's Ganjam district, the police said today.
While the accused from Mayangi village in Sorada police station limit were arrested yesterday, some otehrs allegedly involved in teh incident are at large, Inspector In-Charge of Sorada police station, Santosh Kumar Jena said.
The victim, an auto driver, has sustained head injury when the accused persons attacked him on Monday. His condition was stable after treatment at local hospital, Jena said.
Sources said some villagers, particularly Babu Swain, suspected that the victim was practising black magic, which they thought caused death of some villagers.
The incident might be a fallout of dispute between families of Babu Swain and Mitu Swain, police suspected.
The situation in the village is calm after arrest of the accused persons, while police personnel were deployed to prevent any further trouble, police added.
