The man in question asked the witches for help to treating his sick 10-year-old son. According to Police, Mr Chopra went to the local witch doctor named Parvati, for treatment for his son. But as soon as the family reached her place, Parvati accused Mr Chopra of being a rival sorcerer and ordered her disciples to kill him.
''They were laughing and dancing around his body to music while he screamed in agony. In the end there was just a pile of ashes left,' said a police spokesman in Mandla, Madhya Pradesh, the closest city to where the ritual slaying happened.''His wife Sushma later told police:
'It was sickening. They surrounded him and took turns to stab him with tridents and hack at him with an axe. They cut off his hands because they said that was where his power was.My husband told them he had no powers, no witchcraft, but they wouldn't listen. The more he screamed, the more they sang and the more they laughed.Then to make sure his power was gone for ever, they said they had to burn him. This was in front of our son who was terrified.'
Police say the witch and six of her followers are in custody awaiting trial for murder.
'We confiscated literature on witchcraft, as well as axes and tridents from the scene. We have also recovered some ashes for forensic tests,' said a police spokesman.Parvati and her followers allowed Sushma and her son to leave, but vowed to curse them if they told anyone.
The pair ignored the threats and traveled all night to the nearest police station where they reported the killing.
A UN official last year said that archaic cultural practices such as lynching women branded as witches persisted in India partly because they were social sanctioned and not treated as as crimes by police.
Government statistics show there were 160 cases of murder linked to witch hunts in 2013, and 119 the previous year.
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