RAPE, MURDER SUSPECT BEATEN TO DEATH BY MOB IN J’KHAND

RANCHI: Barely a few hours after a frenzied mob had lynched alleged beef trader Asgar Ali in Ramgarh district on Thursday, an angry mob in Dumka thrashed to death a rape and murder suspect identified as Mithun Hansda, 25.

This is the third incident of mob violence in Jharkhand in the last one week. Two days ago Hansda had allegedly raped and killed a seven-year-old girl before dumping her body near a river.

Suspecting his involvement based on information provided by villagers, the panchayat committee on Wednesday summoned him to a public hearing and asked him to reveal the whereabouts of the girl. Hansda told the committee that he had seen the girl near the river on Tuesday but denied having harmed her in any way.

On Thursday morning, the committee asked a group of villagers to launch a search operation for the missing child. This group then stumbled upon the girl’s body near the river bank.

Soon the villagers concluded that Hansda had raped and killed her. In a fit of rage, they tied him to a tree and beat him to death. By the time the police arrived, Hansda had breathed his last. They took the two bodies in their custody and sent them for postmortem. “The postmortem would establish whether the minor girl was raped,” said a police officer who did not want to be named.

Dumka police superintendent Mayur Patel gave a different reason for the lynching. He said both the girl and the rape suspect had come to attend the wedding.

WHEN THE VILLAGERS FOUND THE GIRL’S BODY THEY ALLEGEDLY TIED 25YEAROLD MITHUN HANSDA TO A TREE AND BEAT HIM TO DEATH