TETGAMA, July 9 -- Sonu Oraon was dozing off after dinner around 10pm on Sunday when a cacophony of sharp voices outside the hut shook him awake. A fellow villager, Ramdev Oraon, had dragged his sick nephew Sunil Oraon, and laid him on the courtyard outside. "You're a witch. You ate my son Sumit; now will you eat my nephew too? I'm giving you half an hour to fix him, or else I'll burn you alive," Ramdev shouted - his ire directed at Sonu's grandmother, Kanto Devi. Almost everyone in their village of Tetgama - 340 km north-east of Patna - knew that Ramdev's eight-year-old son had died roughly two weeks earlier. But Sonu hoped that the threats were just empty jibes from a bellicose man. They were not. Half an hour later, Ramdev allegedly returned with a large group of armed men and women - the first information report names 23 people and adds that another 150-200 people were present - who proceeded to allegedly drag Babu Lal, 50, his mother Kanto Devi, 70, wife Sita Devi, 45, son Manjit Kumar, 25 and daughter-in-law-Rania Devi, 22, out of the house and burn them to death. The gruesome crime has shaken Bihar and brought back dark memories of witchcraft-related murders that dominated headlines in the 1990s and 2000s. Police have booked the 23 people - which includes Ramdev Oraon, Nakul Oraon, Anil, Sant Lal and others - and the unknown others under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including murder, rioting, unlawful assembly, and under the Prevention of Witchcraft Act. "Prima facie, the horrific incident was committed in the superstition triggered after the death of a boy in the family of Ramdev Oraon near victims' house," said the police in a statement. The government has now ordered a high-level inquiry under the divisional commissioner and the director general of police. But questions are being raised how neither the police station - barely 4km away - nor the local administration got a whiff of the crime. "Everything happened and the panchayat administration remained totally unaware about it," said divisional commissioner (Purnia) Rajesh Kumar, and called for steps against local officials. Relatives of the victim hint that the reason for the murders was not the suspicion of witchcraft, but something more mundane. "They were killed for some other reason," said Kamni Devi, sister in law of Babu Lal Oraon. Another relative, Nero Devi, echoed her. "The truth will come out one day," she said. Jitendra is more forthcoming, alleging that the murder was part of a plot to capture the family's land holdings. Arjun Oraon, Babu Lal's brother, backed him. "Nakul Oraon, the prime accused, is a land broker and the tractor which was used to dispose of the burnt bodies three km away belongs to his friend Mohammad Sanaul." Babu Lal Oraon had four brothers - Jagdish Oraon, Khub Lal Oraon, Arjun Oraon and Jitendra Oraon. Together, they own over five bighas of agricultural land, in addition to their homestead land. Local residents told HT that land sharks are growing in the area with more projects connected to the national highway....