Ranchi Apr 23 PTI An elderly couple was killed in Jharkhands Gumla district allegedly by their relatives who suspected that they practised witchcraft police said on SaturdayThe incident happened around 9 pm on Friday in Bhagat Bukma village in Chainpur police station area around 140 km from state capital Ranchi they saidLundra Chik Baraik 65 and his wife Phulma Devi 60 were attacked with an axe and sticks when they were in their house Chainpur sub-divisional police officer Cyril Marandi told PTILundras sister-in-law Sumitra Devi was arrested in connection with the murder and the involvement of her son Ravindra and some other people is being probed he saidDuring interrogation Sumitra claimed that both the husband and wife were witches and they harmed people with their black magic Marandi saidSumitras daughter was ill for the past few days and she held the couple responsible for her illness he saidShe was booked under provisions of Prevention of Witch DAAIN Practices Act he addedFormer village head Kishun Bhagat said that Lundra had met him on Friday morning and said that Sumitras family was threatening himA meeting was held in presence of village head Jairam Bhagat to sort out the issue We tried to convince both the families but Sumitras family was leveling witchcraft allegations at Lundras family he saidGauging the tension between the two families villagers suggested they report the matter to the police Lundra had gone to the police station We do not know what happened thereafter At night we came to know that Lundra and his wife were killed Bhagat saidMurder on suspicion of witchcraft has been a major issue in Jharkhand In January this year an elderly couple was lynched on suspicion of practising witchcraft in Arki police station area in Khunti districtAn analysis of NCRBs data suggests that a total of 590 people mostly women were killed on allegations of practising witchcraft between 2001 and 2020The state registered the highest 54 witch-hunting murders in 2013 52 in 2008 and 50 in 2007 Witchcraft murder cases started declining after 2014 when 47 people were killed Thirty-two people were killed in 2015 27 in 2016 19 in 2017 18 in 2018 and 15 each in 2019 and 2020 PTI SAN SOM SOM