Gangaben and her daughter, Liliben, were allegedly assaulted by Mangabhai Chhanabhai Rathod, Gangaben's nephew, who suspected them of being witches and responsible for his wife's ill-health.

Rathod, who was arrested on Monday evening by the Ichhapore police, has since confessed to the murder, but maintained that Gangaben and her daughter were responsible for his wife's mental problems.

While indicating the grip of superstition and bhagats (witch doctors) on rural people, the incident also had other villagers taking up for the women, maintaining that there was nothing ``supernatural'' about them.

According to sources, relations within the family -- fishermen by trade and residents of Vansva village in Choriyasi taluka -- had begun souring since Rathod married Hansa eight months ago. A couple of months after the wedding, Hansa reportedlybegan behaving ``abnormally''. A bhagat pronounced that she had been ``possessed'' by a demon at the command of Gangaben and Liliben.

Frequent quarrels between Rathod and the two women apparently climaxed in the murder of Saturday night. Incidentally, Hansa reportedly returned to ``normal'' after visiting the bhagat. But nothing shakes Rathod's conviction that ``they had to be taken care of''. Hansa joins in, ``They were witches. They are now responsible for my husband's arrest''.

Says village sarpanch Amrut Prabhu Patel, ``This is a question of blind faith. Until now there was no question of Gangaben's being a witch''. But adds Thakore Patel, a grocer familiar with the Rathods for years, ``Such things are not unknown here''.