Years of drought, repeated crop failures, financial troubles, growing debt etc., didn't push some 418 farmers in Madhya Pradesh to end their lives, but ghosts did! And this piece of information came from none other than the state government itself. According to a reply in the state assembly by home minister Bhupendra Singh, these farmers were "possessed by ghosts."

Shailandra Patel, the Congress MLA who had asked for the statistics, said he was stunned by the reply.

In his defence, the home minister said his information was based on statements of the victims’ relatives.

However when Patel questioned back whether the state government believed in superstitions like ghosts and black magic, the home minister did not reply.