Folk artist killed and ears chopped over black magic suspicion

Hyderabad: A man from Hyderabad along with three of his associates killed a folk artist under the Rachakonda commissionerate two days ago. The accused took the extreme step suspecting black magic to be the cause of his wife's sickness.

The accused has been identified as Boyini Shankarayya who hails from Sangem village of Valigonda in Bhongir district and runs a chicken centre at Moula Ali in Hyderabad.

The accused and his associates Saikiran and Yadaiah were arrested while Prabhakar is still absconding.

Police said, "A few weeks ago, the accused along with his wife Jaya had come to Sangem to attend a funeral of a close relative. At the funeral, the victim Boyini Shankarayya who was sitting beside the accused and his wife Jaya, coughed a couple of times holding his ears. After the funeral the accused and his wife returned to their home, but, the next day the wife of the accused complained of stomach ache and pain in her both ears continuously. The accused recollected what the victim had done during the funeral. Since the victim is an artist, the accused thought he had done black magic on his wife. The accused decided to kill the victim so that his wife could get some relief.

As per the plan, the accused hired three persons to kill the victim in an accident. On Friday, when the victim was returning home on his bike, the accused who was travelling in an SUV hit the bike from the rear. As soon as the victim fell off the bike, the accused and his associates alighted from the vehicle and slit the victim's throat. They later, also chopped off the victim's ears as the accused was planning to show them to his wife Jaya so that she is relieved from her illness. On Sunday, when the accused were on their way to Hyderabad with the chopped ears police teams nabbed them.