New Delhi: The Dhule District Police has arrested 12 people on Monday in connection with the lynching of five people on Sunday over rumours of child lifting in Maharashtra’s Dhule District.
The arrested accused are residents of Rainpada and aged between 20 to 30 according to Police sources, Indian express reported.
The lynchings of five victims were apparently triggered by social media posts on child trafficking and child lifters. The incident happened on Sunday Morning in Raipada’s Sakri taluka which is about 325 Kms from Mumbai, after one of the five victims who were de-boarding a state bus spoke to a girl child.
A mob comprising of 35 people including children attacked the victims on suspicion of child lifting.
Dhule Superintendent of Police, M Ramkumar said: “The accused hail from a tribal village where WhatsApp posts pertaining to child kidnappers had gone viral. Based on the posts, the mob suspected the victims to be child lifters and thrashed them to death.”
“The victims were nomads who had come to seek alms at the weekly bazaar,” he added.
The Police has registered a case under Section 302 (murder) and sections pertaining to rioting of the IPC against 35 people, of which 12 accused are residents of Rainpada village.
“We have registered a case. Of the 12 named, most of them will be formally arrested by night,” said Ramkumar.
The whole lynching crime was recorded on mobiles which shows the victims begging, pleading but are dragged and thrashed with slippers and beaten up by villagers.
In another video clip, a victim can be seen pleading for help, while the other bloodied bodies of the four victims are lying on the floor. The person shooting the video can be heard warning the victim, “tujhe marega phirse (I will hit you again)”.