BERHAMPUR: In a shocking incident, residents of Ganjam district in Odisha allegedly lynched two youths on Wednesday night, who extorted money from the villagers for the last several months.
The deceased have been identified as Litu Padhy (48) and Siba Gouda (31) from Lathi village.
The villagers took the law into their hands as repeated police complaints yielded no results. They mercilessly beat the two to death and set their bodies on fire in a bid to hide their identity.
Sources said the deceased used to harass the locals and extort money by threatening them with dire consequences. Tired and concerned over rising harassment, the villagers had staged a road blockade demanding immediate police action against them.
The villagers unable to tolerate their atrocity caught hold of the two near a liquor shop and allegedly beat them to death.
They later took the bodies of the deceased in their motorcycle to an isolated place on the outskirt of the village and set them on fire and later fled the spot.
Soon a team of police officers rushed to the spot and sent the half-burnt bodies to postmortem on Thursday.
The family members of the deceased have identified the half-burnt bodies.
"We have detained 17 people for questioning. The persons involved in the murder have been identified and would be nabbed soon," said the SP.
Photo caption - The spot in Mohuda village in Ganjam district where police recovered half burnt bodies on Thursday.