Female Mob Slays Barber

HYDERABAD, India — Indian police arrested 67 women yesterday after a mob killed a barber suspected of practising black magic, an official said. Dozens more women were being sought by authorities.

The arrests came after the mob of about 150 women from the south Indian village of Muddireddypalli attacked the shop of a barber named Parvathalu on Tuesday, beating him and locking him inside before setting the building on fire, said C. Satyanarayana, a district official.

The villagers suspected he was practising black magic and held him responsible for the large number of deaths in the village in the past year, he said. The attack was prompted by the death of another woman earlier this week, the official said.