Raipur, March 6 (IANS) A teenager killed his 55-year-old aunt Saturday in a village near Chhattisgarh capital Raipur because he suspected her of practising witchcraft, police said.

Fourteen-year-old Lokeshwar Kannaujia stabbed his aunt Revti Kannaujia with a sharp weapon from behind when the woman was praying in her room early morning, police said.

The incident occurred in Tekari village, 18 km from here.

'The accused has been arrested as he killed his aunt brutally. He suspected her of practising witchcraft and held her responsible for his younger brother's prolonged illness,' O.P. Sharma, officer in charge of Mandir Hasod police station, told IANS over phone.

With rising cases of harassment of women after they are branded witches, the state government enacted a Witchcraft (Prevention) Act, 2005, with provisions of jail term up to five years against the culprits.