nashik members of an antisuperstition organisation on monday visited ghoti where five families have left their homes to go and live on their farms following allegations of black magic levelled against them by their relatives in another family a couple of months ago a 16yearold boy died of a stomachrelated ailment in bhorwadi under the dhargaon gram panchayat of igatpuri taluka his family members held one of their relatives responsible alleging that she had practised black magic and possessed an evil spirit said sp shahaji umapthe boys death and the allegation of black magic sparked quarrels between the different related families some of the village residents even approached the ghoti police station and the police tried to resolve the spat however the arguments continued eventually five of the families left their homes and went to live on their farms instead after the news broke that superstitious beliefs had forced five families to move out of their village members of the maharashtra andhashraddha nirmulan samiti which works against superstitious practices visited the village along with the ghoti police on monday morningkrushna chandgude the state executive of the organization told toi on visiting the village we called the families concerned and asked them to present their sides eventually we realized that the issue had cropped up over misconceptions about one woman possessing evil powers the andhashradda nirmulan samiti members then asked the woman concerned to prepare food for them and they consumed the food in front of the other villagers to prove that the woman was not evilthe members also asked other people to consume the food and drink the water offered by the woman chandgude said the team members spoke to the village residents about their work against superstition and cleared misconceptions