Andhra: Villagers lock themselves citing evil spirits in village

Srikakulam (Andhra Pradesh) [India], April 22 (ANI): Villagers of Sarubujjili Mandal village in the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh locked themselves for two days citing that evil spirits have surrounded the village. Police officials reached the village to counsel them and warned against engaging in any such activities in future.
The incident came to light when the villagers here declared a lockdown in the village from April 17 to 25 and instructed everyone to avoid going out of the village. They said that some demonic spirits surrounded the village, making it unsafe for them. In order to get rid of the evil spirits, the lockdown was declared.
Srikakulam Superintendent of Police, GR Radhika said that the police team reached the village and lifted the lockdown.
"The lockdown in the village has been removed. We went to the village and provided counselling to the villagers. We have warned them against engaging in such superstitions," she said.
Radhika further said, "The villagers performed some rituals for two days and locked themselves in the village. They restricted themselves from going out of the village till they performed the rituals and said it was mandatory."
A villager, Srinu said that the villagers locked themselves up so that the people remain unharmed as the village was surrounded by evil forces.
"Earlier our ancestors used to perform the rituals. Everything was fine for the past 20 years and in three months around five people have died all of sudden. A village head also died all of a sudden. We got scared after his death and went to a sorceress. She said the village is not safe and asked us to do some rituals. We made arrangements to do the rituals and locked the village so that nobody is harmed," Srinu added.
Another villager named Parthasarthy said, "We got the witches from Vijayanagaram village. During corona time we locked ourselves to stay safe, in a similar way we locked the village now to get rid of evil spirits."
However, the police have restricted any such activities in the village and warned the villagers against locking the village. (ANI)