Mumbai, July 2 (TNS): In yet another incident of mob violence, five people were lynched to death by villagers in Indian state of Maharashtra.
The five persons were beaten to death after videos of child lifters were actively circulated on a WhatsApp group, police said.
The incident comes in the backdrop a spate of similar such incidents in several parts of the country when people were either attacked or lynched on suspicion that they were child abductors.
The five, along with a few others, were seen getting down from a state transport bus in the tribal-dominated Rainpada hamlet, police said.
When one of them apparently tried to speak to a girl child, the villagers, who had gathered for the weekly Sunday market, pounced on them, they said.
According to police, rumours that a gang of child lifters was active in the area were doing the rounds for a few days.
Police have detained 15 residents of Rainpada village in relation with the crime. M Ramkumar, Dhule SP, also said that all residents of the village – around 250 of them – have left the village after the incident.
“I appeal everybody not to believe in such posts that are circulated on social media. Law should not be taken in hands,” Deepak Kesarkar, MoS, Maharashtra told news agency ANI.
The video of the assault was doing rounds of social media.
