A village in India went into self-imposed lockdown as villagers there believed it was surrounded by evil spirits.
A report by an Indian news agency said that a lockdown from April 17 to April 25 was declared as people believed there were demonic spirits there.
Srikakulam Superintendent of Police GR Radhika, speaking with an Indian news agency, said that locals performed rituals for two days.
“The villagers performed some rituals for two days and locked themselves in the village,” she said as quoted in the report. “They restricted themselves from going out of the village till they performed the rituals and said it was mandatory.”
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A villager named Srinu said the situation was normal till five people lost their lives in three months suddenly.
“Earlier our ancestors used to perform the rituals. Everything was fine for the past 20 years and in three months around five people have died all of sudden. A village head also died all of a sudden. We got scared after his death and went to a sorceress. She said the village is not safe and asked us to do some rituals. We made arrangements to do the rituals and locked the village so that nobody is harmed,” she said.
Another villager Parthasarthy said that the locals got witches from Vijayanagaram village during coronavirus pandemic. He said the self-lockdown resembles that.
The police officer said the lockdown was lifted, adding the villagers have been warned from engaging in such activities again.
“The lockdown in the village has been removed. We went to the village and provided counselling to the villagers. We have warned them against engaging in such superstitions,” she said.
