A video of two women eating cow dung went viral on social media platforms a few days ago in parts of Maharashtra and Belagavi. In the video, a black magician and a few men from the women’s families were seen forcing the women to eat cow dung apparently to cure them of some disease. The women were also assaulted in the video. Maharashtra police, who probed the issue, found that the video was taken in Bidar and that a black magician was behind the incident.
According to the police, a Chakur-based family had heard of this magician and met him. They wanted him to cure the two women of seizures. Mallappa Kareppa Mungale, the black magician, who also claims to cure diseases by touching the patients and making them participate in strange rituals, summoned the women and their families to his Ashram in Koutha on the Bidar- Aurad road a fortnight ago. The family was made to stay overnight at the Ashram and the women were forced to cow dung. The men were asked to hit the women if they refused to eat it. Mungale also visited the house of the women in a village in Latur district thrice and performed black magic, the police added.
After the incident came to light, a case was registered in Chakur police station in Latur district. The investigations led to the police charging 13 persons, including some from the family of the victims, under various sections of IPC, CrPC, IT Act and Anti-Black Magic Act in Maharashtra. The police have arrested five.
A team will soon be sent to Bidar to apprehend the accused, the police said. As the black magician is a native of Karnataka he cannot be booked under the Anti-Black Magic Act, he will face other criminal charges, a senior police officer from Maharashtra told The Hindu.
Bidar SP Prakash Nikam said Maharashtra police were in touch with his officials. “We will extend full cooperation to them. All relevant provisions of the law will be explored,” he said. He recalled a case of human sacrifice in Hallikhed in Bidar district a decade ago that was solved by Bidar police in a matter of few days. However, the incidence of Bhanamati and other black magic based cases have been coming down in Bidar district with the increasing awareness and effective policing, Mr. Nikam added.
