An Indian couple and four of their children were hacked to death by a angry mob of villagers after they accused the family of practising witchcraft and making their children sick.

The victims were asleep in their mud house in the hamlet of Lahanda in Keonjhar district, when a group of around five people armed with axes broke in, said police in the eastern state of Odisha.

The suspects, believed to be relatives of the family, accused the victims of being behind for a spate of frequent illnesses among infants in the village and brutally set upon the victims.

Two of the children and alerted police, who discovered the mutilated bodies lying inside the deserted hut.

District Superintendent of Police Kavita Jalan said the police reached the village in the early hours of Monday where they discovered the horrific scene of carnage.

The shocking attack happened in a small rural village, situated in six hours from the city of Puri, Odisha

An axe was found abandoned inside the hut, and a young boy was found still breathing in the hut.

The terrified eight-year-old survivor was discovered lying amongst the bodies, holding on to his dead family members, Jalan told Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Police have launched a manhunt in pursuit of the five suspects, who fled the village after committing the heinous crimes.

Despite laws banning the lynching of alleged 'witches', the practice of accusing men and women as being involved in black magic and witchcraft remains a problem in a few tribal areas of rural India.

People labelled as witches have been assaulted or killed by villagers out of suspicion and fear.

Data from the National Crime Records Bureau shows there were 160 cases of murders linked to witch hunts in 2013, and 119 in 2012.

In a separate incident, police recovered the charred remains of a man who was beaten to death and burnt by a mob.

Villagers subjected the man to an excruciating death after accusing him of committing acts of sorcery in Rayagada district, Odisha state today.

The north eastern state of Odisha has been troubled by a long-standing Maoist insurgency in the tribal areas

Charity workers say as well as trying to disabuse some tribes of superstitious beliefs, the government needs to focus on education and economic development.

India's tribes make up more than 8 percent of its 1.2 billion population. Yet many live on the margins of society - inhabiting remote villages and eking out a living from farming, cattle rearing and collecting and selling forest produce.

Social indicators in these communities, including literacy, child malnutrition and maternal mortality, are among the lowest in the country.

Neglect by the authorities and a Maoist insurgency in the country's central tribal belt have further exacerbated their plight.