Man beaten up by mob on child lifting suspicion, dies

JAIPUR: He could not walk and we pleaded with doctors to keep him admitted but they refused. MOHAMMED DANISH, elder brother of victim His condition deteriorated on Wed, although docs tried their best, he couldn’t be saved. DR SS YADAV, spokesperson for hospital

A 25-year-old man, who was beaten by a mob in Jaipur’s Vishwakarma area on February 3, on suspicion of child lifting, died in a hospital here on Wednesday morning.

Mohammed Faisal, a shoemaker, had gone out with the 3-year-old daughter of his neighbour Aslam Ansari at about 11 am on February 3, said Ansari, the same age as Faisal, adding that Faisal used to take his daughter out every morning to buy her toffees.

“A while after he left, a person came to my house saying that Faisal has dropped my daughter somewhere and left. I immediately reached the place and found my daughter. But while returning I saw a crowd and going near, I saw they were beating Faisal,” said Ansari, adding that he called the police.

In a purported video of the incident, Faisal is seen tied to an electricity pole, and people around him are hitting and kicking him. His teeth appear to be broken and he is heard speaking incoherently. People are heard saying that he was a child lifter and should be killed. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.

When the police reached the spot, the crowd fled, said Mukut Bihari, sub inspector (SI) at Vishwakarma police station. “We took him to Kanwatiya hospital from where he was referred to Bangar hospital. We arrested two people, Mahender alias Gopi and Nishant Modi the next day in connection with the crime,” said Bihari.

The SI added that Mahender had around 20 cases registered against him including theft, assault and selling illicit liquor. The duo is in judicial custody and the investigation in the case is on, he said. Faisal’s body was given to his family after post mortem.

Ansari said that Faisal was mentally weak and there were times when he would become absolutely quiet. “Even while he was being beaten up, he did not say anything in his defence. He kept uttering random things. Some people told me later that he had put my daughter down and mistakenly picked up someone else’s daughter,” he added.

Both Ansari and Faisal hailed from Kanpur and had known each other for years. Ansari said that he had lived in Jaipur for some eight years while Faisal had come to Jaipur only about 2-3 months back.

Faisal’s family alleged that he was discharged by the hospital authorities despite his condition being serious. “He was discharged on Tuesday afternoon. He could not even walk and we pleaded with the doctors to keep him admitted but they refused. We then called the police, who asked us to stay overnight so that they could record his statements the next day,” said Mohammed Danish, Faisal’s elder brother.

He added that Faisal’s condition deteriorated in the early hours of Wednesday following which the doctors admitted him in the ICU and gave him an injection. “They said he was alright. After a while, they came out and said that he was no more,” he said.

The hospital authorities, however, said that he was never discharged. “He underwent a brain surgery wherein a blood clot was removed. He was recovering but he remained in the ward. His condition deteriorated on Wednesday morning and although the doctors tried their best to manage him, he could not be saved,” said Dr SS Yadav, spokesperson for the hospital. He added that reason of death would be clear after the post mortem report comes, the cause of death could be infection. “In cases where tube feeding is done, food particle can enter the windpipe and reach the lungs, leading to pneumonia.”