It seems a man in India who claimed his leg had great and supernatural powers has been brutally attacked. The BBC reports that his leg was stolen by thieves:

The 80-year-old holy man, Yanadi Kondaiah, claimed to have healing powers in the leg.

He is now recovering from his ordeal in hospital in the city of Tirupati in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Local people believed they could be healed of spiritual and physical problems if they touched his leg.

As the value of this asset grew, so did the threat. But the man apparently did not realize how vulnerable he was.

“As the old man had the weakness of drinking, he accepted their invitation to have drinks with them,” said local police Sub-Inspector Pendakanti Dastgiri.

“They took him to a deserted spot in the outskirts of the village.

“After the old man had passed out under the influence of liquor, they cut off his right leg from the knee,” he said.

Ouch. While it is easy to say it was his fault for boasting about the value of his leg, to do speculates about value and blames the victim. The problem is best considered in a more holistic (pun not intended) security manner, with recognition that he was too vulnerable and the threat was strangely unmitigated.

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