Khunti Double Murder: Two Minors Hacked to Death After Chhau Dance Event

Khunti (IANS) — A teenage boy and a girl were murdered by assailants with sharp-edged weapons in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, triggering widespread panic in the area.

The murders occurred in Model Village Jivri under the Soyko police station limits. Unidentified attackers killed the two minors before dumping their bodies at the foothills of the Marangburu hills to destroy evidence, police officials confirmed on Monday.

Police recovered the bodies on Monday morning after local residents alerted them. Authorities identified the deceased as 16-year-old Bisu Pahan and 17-year-old Sumi Mundu, both residents of Bada Jivri.

According to the police, both victims attended a Chhau dance program organized in the Soyko area on Sunday night. Around 1 a.m., Bisu got into an argument with a group of youths. As the dispute escalated, the attackers abducted both teenagers and took them to a nearby field, where they hacked them to death with sharp weapons.

The killers then dumped the bodies at the foothills of the Marangburu hills in an attempt to cover up the crime. Villagers later spotted the bodies and alerted the police. A team from the Soyko police station rushed to the spot, took custody of the bodies, and sent them for a postmortem examination before handing them over to the families for their last rites.

Village head Binsai Munda expressed apprehension that a possible love affair might have triggered the incident.

Khunti Superintendent of Police Rishabh Garg confirmed that the two minors had attended the Chhau program before their murders. He added that the police are probing all angles and have constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to identify and arrest the accused. Police are currently conducting raids to apprehend the culprits.