Hyderabad, December 13:

Two men attacked a self-proclaimed holy man in southern India and chopped off his right leg, apparently believing it had magical powers, police said today.

The 80-year-old Yanadi Kondaiah, who claimed that those who touched his leg would be cured of illness or have wishes granted, was in a hospital in serious condition after the attack on Tuesday, said R Ravindranath Reddy, a senior police officer.

“We are looking for the miscreants as well as the leg,” Reddy said over phone from Chittoor district, a remote area some 550 kilometres south of Hyderabad.

“This seems to be a case of superstition. The two people might have taken away the leg

hoping to benefit from its magical powers,”

said Pendakanti Dastgiri, the police officer handling the case.

Kondaiah told police two men offered him a drink as thanks for previously helping them

with his magical touch. After he passed out , the men chopped off the leg below the knee with a sickle and left him to die, said Dastgiri, adding that passing villagers took him to a local hospital.