Police in southern India have arrested two men on charges of attempting to burn their parents alive

Omar Farooq:

The men told the police that they suspected their parents, Shankraiah and Yadamma, of practising sorcery against their wives in Andhra Pradesh state.

But the police suspect that a dispute over family property could be the motive for the alleged crime.

The wives of the two men and another relative have also been arrested in connection with the incident.

Shankraiah, 50, and Yadamma, 40, are in hospital in a serious condition.

A senior police official, B Narsimhlu, said the incident occurred on Monday night in the village of Motkupally in Ranga Reddy district, about 50km (30 miles) from the state capital, Hyderabad.

Eyewitnesses told the police that relatives helped the two men, Puneesh and Ravi, pour kerosene on their parents and then set them on fire.

Neighbours rescued the burning couple after hearing their cries for help.

Puneesh and Ravi have told the police that their parents were practising sorcery on their wives and harming their health.

Police official B Narsimhlu said he thought a tussle over family property was the real reason for the attack.

"Yadamma is the second wife of Shankraiah, whom he married after the death of his first wife. His sons from the first wife were unhappy with this marriage as they were eyeing the four acres of land that their father owned," he told the BBC.

"Fearing that Yadamma would come in the way of the sons inheriting the land, they tried to eliminate both mother and father."

In another incident in the state, police arrested 67 women on charges of burning a man alive in Mahbubnagar district, about 100km from Hyderabad.

Senior police official C Satyanarayana said that the village women attacked the shop of Parvathalu, a barber, on Tuesday afternoon and burnt him alive after suspecting him of practising black magic.

Eyewitnesses said the village women turned on Parvathalu after a local resident died saying he had cast a spell on her.

Attacks on people suspecting of being involved in black magic are common in Ranga Reddy and Mahbubnagar districts where most people are illiterate and poor.

67 women arrested for killing suspected sorcerer

'Black magic murder'