Man beaten to death over suspicion of kidnapping

BERHAMPORE: An unidentified man suspected of being a childlifter was allegedly tied to an electric pole and beaten to death by a mob in Bengal’s Malda district on Wednesday.

Until afternoon, police had arrested three people for the crime on the basis of a video of the incident. Police said that the victim was in his thirties, and appeared to be a homeless man.

According to sources, a mob confronted the victim at Bulbulchandi-dubapara village in Habibpur and asked him why he had come there. When his response failed to satisfy them, they tied him to an electricity post and began beating him.

Upon receiving a tip-off, police rushed to the scene and took the injured man to the Malda Medical College and Hospital. However, he died soon afterwards.

“We have arrested three persons so far in connection with the lynching incident,” said Biswajit Mondal, inspector-in-charge of the Habibpur police station. Attempts to contact Malda superintendent of police Arnab Ghosh went in vain.

“I heard about the lynching, and it was ghastly to say the least. I am going there,” said local CPI(M) MLA Khagen Murmu.

Subhajit Jana, who is officiating for the Habibpur block development officer, said steps would be taken to prevent further incidents of the kind in the area. “We are planning to organise an awareness camp aimed at discouraging rumours of child-lifting from tomorrow. Local villagers and clubs will participate,” he said, adding that not a single child has been kidnapped from the locality in the recent past.

On June 8, two men – Nilotpal Das (29) and Abhijeet Nath (30) – were pulled out of their vehicle at Panjuri in Assam’s Karbi Anglong district and beaten to death by a mob of villagers hunting for alleged child-lifters.

In the neighbouring Jharkhand, at least eight people were lynched on child-lifting suspicions in a period of nine days last May.