Bhubaneswar, Aug 4 (IANS): In a shocking incident, an elderly man was allegedly beaten to death on suspicion of practicing witchcraft in a village in Odisha's Rayagada district, police said on Thursday.

The deceased has been identified as Dai Majhi of Titiguda village under Kashipur block of Rayagada district. Fortunately, the victim's two sons Durya Majhi and Lalu Majhi, managed to escape from the attack with critical injuries.

Durya and Lalu are now under treatment at Tikiri hospital, the police said.

According to locals, the incident took place on Wednesday night when Dai Majhi, his wife and two sons were fast asleep at their home in the Titiguda village.

Suddenly, some villagers allegedly barged into their house and pulled out Dai & his sons from the house. After tying them with a rope, the locals allegedly beat them.

Dai was severely beaten by the villagers leading to his death while his two sons managed to escape from the villagers' clutches, they said.

After getting information about the incident, Tikiri police rushed to the village, recovered Dai's body and sent it for post-mortem.

So far, six persons have been detained in connection with the incident and further investigation is underway, a police official said.