To put an end to coronavirus pandemic, priest beheads a man in Odisha

Bhubaneswar, May 28: In a shocking incident, the police have arrested a 70-year-old priest in Odisha for allegedly beheading a man, believing that the killing would end the novel coronavirus pandemic.

According to police, a 55-year-old was beheaded in the premises of the temple on Wednesday night. The police also identified the accused as Sansari Ojha, a priest at Goddess Brahmani temple in Bandhahuda, Cuttack.

It is reportedly said that Ojha was ordered to carry out the beheading by the goddess in order to bring an end to the pandemic. On Wednesday night, as the victim Saroj Kumar Pradhan visited the temple and began to offer his prayers to the goddess, Ojha came up from behind and chopped Pradhan's neck off with a scythe.

Alok Ranjan Ray, Sub-Divisional Police Officer of Athagarh, said that the accused later surrendered to the police and confessed to committing the crime.

"During interrogation, the priest admitted to the murder claiming it was ordered by the goddess," Ray said. However, the police, said that the priest had a long-standing dispute with the deceased over a mango orchard on the outskirts of the village.

Presently, Odisha has reported as many as 67 new cases of COVID-19 cases on Thursday, with the state's tally now standing at 1,660.

Among the new cases, about 65 people recently returned to the state from various parts of the country and were in different quarantine centres across districts, while two others were detected with the infection as a result of the contact-tracing exercise, the health department said.