BILASPUR: A 45-year-old man was allegedly beaten to death and five others suffered injuries after a mob of villagers attacked them on the suspicion of cattle theft in Chhattisgarh's Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi (GPM) district, police said on Saturday.
At least six persons have been arrested in connection with the incident that took place in Salheghori village under Gaurela police station area on Thursday, an official said.
The victims hailed from Medhakhar village located in Amarkantank police station limits of Madhya Pradesh.
Two men from Medhakhar had come to transport four buffaloes procured by someone, from Salheghori to their village on Wednesday night, he said.
"The duo was intercepted by locals, who asked them to show the documents to prove that the cattle was owned by them. But when the men failed to do so, the villagers accused the victims of stealing the cattle and beat them up with sticks," the official said.
Soon, other villagers also joined them in the attack and locked the duo in a community hall in the village, he said.
On Thursday morning, four relatives of the two men reached Salheghori, where locals quarrelled with them and proceeded to thrash them with sticks, in which one of them died on the spot, he said.
A police team rushed to the spot and shifted the five injured men to a hospital, while the body of the deceased, Surat Banjara, was sent for post-mortem, the police official said.
Based on a preliminary probe, local Janpad member Sukhram Bhaina, sarpanch of Salheghori village Purushottam Baiga, former sarpanch Krishna Kumar Baiga, and three others were arrested in connection with the attack, he said.
At least 22 more persons were allegedly involved in the attack and they are being identified, he said, adding that a case has been registered in this connection.