Police have arrested four persons for alleged involvement with the death of an 18-year-old woman after she drank “sacred water” in a ritual to drive away evil spirits organised by the four.
Deputy national police chief Pol Gen Srivara Ransibrahmanakul said on Friday (April 6) that the fifth suspect – a monk – is still at large and the police are still hunting for him.
He added that the five suspects belong to a cheating gang which preyed on the gullible by convincing them to their concocted “sacred” water to do away with their bad luck or spirit.
The arrest of the four suspects followed a recent compliant to Pol Gen Srivara by Mrs Duangjit Kanakhwao, the mother of the dead victim, who claimed that she suspected that her daughter’s death stemmed from the “sacred” water she drank.
Mrs Duangjit, a Chaiyaphum resident, told the police that she and her daughter met the five persons at a temple. They told her daughter that someone used black magic against her, so, she had to undergo a ritual to drive away evil spirits.
Mrs Duangjit said she agreed to pay 440 baht for the ritual where her daughter was told to drink two alms-bowls of sacred water.
After drinking the first alms-bowl of “sacred” water, her daughter started vomiting, developed seizures and bit her own tongue. Her daughter was then rushed to the provincial hospital and remained there for four days before she succumbed to her death on March 27.
During their interrogation by the police, the suspects claimed that they didn’t force the victim to drink the “sacred” water.
However, police charged them with fraud and negligence causing the death of the other people. NT-EP
