Five lynched in Dhule as mob suspects them of childlifting

19 dead across India over such social media rumours of kidnapping

MUMBAI:FIVE people were beaten to death in Dhule district in Maharashtra on suspicion of being part of a child-kidnapping gang. The incident took place on Sunday morning in Rainpada village in Sakri taluka, 350km northeast of Mumbai. At least 15 locals were detained by the police by evening for their alleged involvement in the lynching. All five victims were from Maharashtra’s Solapur district, 400 km southeast of Mumbai.

The latest incident takes the nationwide death toll in suspected child-lifting lynching incidents since May 20 to 19.

Police officers from Pimpalner village in Sakri taluka — who were put in charge of the investigation — said a murder case will be registered against those detained.

The five deceased, who belonged to the Nathpanthiya Davri community, have been identified as Bharat Bhosale, Dadarao Bhosale, Bharat Malave, Raju Bhosale and Appa Ingole, residents of Kavale village in Solapur’s Mangalwada Taluka.

“On Sunday, the group was begging in Rainpada when locals spotted them and dragged the men to a Gram Panchayat office room where they were beaten to death,” a local police officer said. According to Pimpalner police, the incident took place around 11am at the Sunday market at Rainpada.

Amid rumours of a child-kidnapping

gang operating in the area, a group of villagers gathered in the market and targeted a few passengers alighting from a state transport bus.

Local police officers told HT that villagers and witnesses reported to them that the five men had allegedly tried to speak to a girl child at the market place and that this aroused suspicion, followed by panic among the villagers. “As the men were outsiders, they might have been targeted as child kidnappers,” an officer said. The victims were allegedly beaten using bamboo sticks, iron rods and stones. They were taken to a hospital in Pimpalner where they were declared dead on arrival.

Dhule superintendent of police Ram Kumar confirmed the detention of 15 local villagers and added

they will be charged for murder.

Villagers told HT that by the time the police reached the spot and took control of the situation, the violent mob had dispersed. The police station is 35km from where the incident took place. Police said they suspect the perpetrators may have escaped to nearby villages after a video of the lynching went viral on social media.

A local police officer told HT, “Although there was no child kidnapping case recorded with Pimpalner police, there was a rumour within the village and its surrounding areas about an active child kidnapping gang. This is a tribal area, and any stranger or outsider is viewed with suspicion.”

He said police personnel are trying to calm the villagers and

asking them to refrain from spreading rumours which may lead to similar incidents.

Maharashtra additional director general of police (law and order) Bipin Bihari has issued an advisory to all police superintendents and inspectorsgeneral across the state to curb rumour-mongering and spread awareness among citizens. The advisory states that the area in charge should identify the source of the rumours and initiate action. He has also asked the SPS and IGS to report similar incidents in the last three months.

HT had reported on June 30 that several fake social media videos and messages with similar themes of outsiders stealing children have claimed 14 lives across the country since May 20.

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