40 booked in Kerala for ‘lynching’ attempt

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala police on Tuesday booked at least 40 people in Malappuram for allegedly attempting to lynch two men after a 14-year-old alleged that they had tried to abduct him.

Police said the incident took place on Monday in Kondotty when the boy raised an alarm following which the locals waylaid a car and attacked its occupants. The critically injured men were later handed over to the police. They were admitted to a Kozhikode hospital.

“They continued thrashing us till we vomited blood. We tried to tell them we were innocent but nobody was willing to listen to us,” one of the men, M Safarulla, 28, told the police. He said that even those who came forward to rescue them were attacked as the mob mistook them for their accomplices. Safarulla and his 24-year-old friend are still in the hospital. Meanwhile, on questioning the boy, the police found that he had made up the abduction story to avoid being scolded by his parents for poor marks in recent examinations. “We examined the CCTV visuals and questioned the boy. He told us the men were trying to tie his limbs and dump him in their car. But there were many contradictions in his version and after sustained questioning, he broke down and confessed he had made it up, “Malappuram deputy SP PP Shams said.

Another police officer said at least four suspected kidnapping cases had come to light in the district in the past six months. He asked people not to go by children’s versions and take law in their hands. Police haven’t released details of the boy or his parents.

Last year in February, a tribal youth Madhu (27) was lynched by locals in Attapady in Palakkad on charges of stealing grocery from a shop.