New Delhi (CNN) Police in eastern India have arrested six men accused of battering a woman and her four young children to death and dumping the bodies down a village well because they suspected she was a witch casting spells.

Five men -- all from the same family -- along with a witch doctor broke into Mandri Munda's home in the state of Odisha on January 24 and used a crowbar to kill her and her children, aged 4, 7, 12 and 10 months, said Sushant Das, inspector at the Koida police station.

They alleged the woman had been practicing black magic and had cast a spell on their own family, which caused a 12-year-old girl to fall ill and die in December.

"The family had gone to a witch doctor, Budhram Munda. He said there is a witch in the village and that is why she (the daughter) had died," said Das.

Witch doctors are seen by believers as having powers to protect others against witchcraft.

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