Tribal woman blamed for drought, sacrificed by tantriks

A tribal woman, Kera Chinnalakshmi, was killed by villagers of Chintakarra village in Y Ramavaram mandal of East Godavari district on Monday.

According to preliminary reports, villagers alleged that the village is going through a bad phase with drought-like situation due to the woman. However, police believe that about 10 people have been performing tantrik rituals in the village. They suspect that these 10 people might have spread rumours and got her killed by the villagers.
Chinnalakshmi had a hut in front of the village temple for presiding deity Ganganamma. Someone spread the rumours that it was due to the daily wage worker Chinnalakshmi that the village is not getting enough rains and that the crops have dried up. They then, convinced the villagers that she has to be sacrificed in the village temple. They then, tortured her by burning camphor on her body and eventually killed her by hitting on her head with a brass mug.
Police suspect that since the villagers were convinced before hand, the latter did not rush to the woman's aid when she screamed for her help nor did they alert the police before hand.