Man beaten to death by three people including 'priest', transgender

A 25-year-old man, allegedly suffering from mental illness was allegedly killed after he was thrashed by three persons, including a "priest", who claimed to treat him through black magic and witchcraft, police said on Wednesday.

The incident took place in the wee hours on Tuesday when Santosh Suryavanshi was taken to a priest, who claimed that he is a healer and will treat the victim with black magic, near a temple in Ulhasnagar, Thane Police PRO Sukhada Narkar said.

"The man was subjected to torture by the priest his son and a transgender. They all beat him severely with sticks, rods, belt on the pretext of getting evil spirits off him after keeping him captive for hours. He died on the spot," she said.

Later, the police reached the spot and recovered the body and a case was registered under sections 302 (murder), 342 (wrongful confinement), 34 (common intention) of IPC and relevant sections of Maharashtra Prevention of Black Magic Act-2013.

The three accused were arrested on Tuesday from Ulhasnagar here, the PRO said.