Desperate Indians turning to WITCH DOCTORS who brand them with hot irons to rid ‘evil spirit’ Covid from their bodies

DESPERATE Indians have been turning to witch doctors who brand them with hot irons to rid them of Covid, a doctor has said.

Many resort to the excruciating treatment as they believe Covid is an “evil spirit”, Ashita Rebecca Singh, doctor in the north west of Maharashtra state, revealed.

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It comes as the Indian authorities have decided to press ahead with elections despite deaths soaring past 200,000,

People have reportedly been dying on the street as India reported 379,257 new infections on Thursday, the world's highest single-day total.

According to Dr Singh, people in the area where she works have been turning to traditional cures before then eventually seek proper treatment.

It comes as:

• Man dumps dying Covid mum in street & son ties dad’s body to car roof 
• Matt Hancock warns India Covid crisis is ‘stark reminder this isn’t over'
• Bollywood stars blasted for fleeing India’s Covid plague for Maldives 
• Harrowing  footage shows of victims lined up for cremation

"We still have a lot of patients on our wards who actually have branding marks on their abdomen because they went to the witch doctor who gave them a hot iron branding,” she told the BBC.

Experts believe the true figure could be five times that as many deaths outside hospital have not been recorded.

Voting in the state West Bengal is in its final phase of elections despite soaring Covid cases amid fears the state could become the new pandemic epicentre.

Long queues were seen outside polling booths, raising concerns about further spread of the virus as cases in West Bengal rose by 17,000 on Wednesday, a state record.

Several parts of the country are under lockdown and curfew, including in the capital Delhi.

The government of Maharashtra, which is home to the financial capital Mumbai, is considering extending its lockdown until mid-May.

But is no lockdown or curfew in West Bengal state.

India's High Court has heard that the Election Commission should be charged with murder for pressing on with the vote.

"Your institution is singularly responsible for the situation today," Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee said.

“Your officials should be booked on murder charges probably.”

Elsewhere, a husband filmed his tearful outburst at India's failing healthcare system after Covid killed his wife and their unborn child.

Sachin, who claims doctors could have saved pregnant Anjali, is seen wandering a hospital looking for someone to speak to and shouting: "There's nobody here. They destroyed me."

But while many face a desperate struggle to find medical treatment for their loved ones, one of India’s most notorious gangsters has been bagged a bed in a top hospital.

Rajendra Nikalje, known as Chhota Rajan, is serving a  for murdering a journalist and faces nearly 70 criminal charges, including extortion and murder.

The 62-year-old was serving in India’s high-security prison Tihar Jail when he tested positive for COVID-19 on April 26

He was  to the All India Institute of Medical Services, or AIIMS, in New Delhi.