In a tragic incident in Dhemaji district, Assam, a man was allegedly lynched to death by a mob on Wednesday night over suspicion of being a child lifter, said officials on Thursday.
According to police, the man, who was in his 30s and mentally unstable, was accosted by a group of residents of Rakut Koke village in Jonai and beaten up on Wednesday evening.
The identity of the victim was not revealed.
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“We got information around 7:30pm that a mob was assaulting a person. When the police team reached the area, the person had already sustained severe injuries and was unconscious. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared brought dead,” said Dhemaji’s deputy superintendent of police (headquarters) AT Doley.
Reports stated that the deceased had taken a child from a mother’s lap following which the woman raised an alarm. On hearing the cries of the woman, a large crowd gathered who started attacking the man.
“Initial investigation revealed that the person was mentally unstable for the past 15 years. When the mob started questioning him, he may have failed to give any satisfactory answers, which in turn angered them. This is a case of mob lynching,” said Doley.
Police have registered a case of murder and have detained seven villagers for questioning.
Further investigation is underway.
According to police, there have been few incidents of mobs attacking persons on suspicion of them being child lifters for the past five days.
A similar incident took place on Wednesday at Silapathar in the same district, when a mob targeted an old man. He was luckily rescued by a police team.
