The body of Nitin Shankar Dhamgaye was found floating on the banks of Kanhan river near Kanhan town on Tuesday. Yashodhara Nagar police took out the body and sent for post-mortem, police said.

Nitin (36), a resident of Nagsenvan, was abducted and thrown in a river near Parseoni on the suspicion of practicing black magic on Friday and four persons have been arrested by the police in this connection so far.

DCP Zone V Sarang Awad said that the accused had killed Nitin as they feared the alleged black magic performed by him. The police had

conducted searches in 12 villages, including Jawahar Nagar in Bhandara district, to trace the body

since Sunday. Mangesh Motilal Jhalke (36), a resident of Gajanan Nagar, MIDC; Suraj Bhaurao Zade (28), a resident of Kapil Nagar and Ankit Prakash Shewte (30), a resident of Ruiganj, Old Kamptee and Ajay Chokhantre were arrested by the police in this connection so far.

Nitin had business of selling drip irrigation equipment while Ankit is a notorious burglar and has four cases registered against him. Mangesh and his accomplices suspected that their lives were in danger because Nitin was practicing black magic.

On July 21 afternoon, Mangesh, Suraj, Ankit went to Nitin’s house and forcibly took him away. He was first taken to a farm house in Hingna and beaten by the accused. Meanwhile, a 23-year-old woman came and the accused forced Nitin to withdraw the spell of black magic. Nitin performed some rituals to help the accused find hidden money, police said. Later, they took Nitin to Parseoni where he was thrown in the flooding Kanhan river. The police had launched searches for the body from Sunday night. Staff of Rural police was involved in the search operation. DCP Awad said that Nitin had taken Rs 35,000 from the accused in the name of tracing ‘Gupt Dhan’. There were many disputes between the accused persons and Nitin which led to his murder, he said.