LUCKNOW: Two persons were beaten to death by a mob on Sunday after they allegedly shot at a 12-year-old boy during a religious ceremony in Sultanpur district, around 185 km from Lucknow, said police.
The incident occurred at Saraiya village under Musafirkhana police station area on Saturday night and the boy who sustained the bullet injury was rushed to the district hospital where he is undergoing treatment and is said to be stable.
According to Vishwanath Yadav, Station House Officer of Musafirkhana police station, the deceased persons — Rahul Singh and Dileep Yadav — reached the temple during the ceremony in an inebriated state and picked a fight. One of them, reportedly shot 12-year-old Sumit on his hand, who was attending the ceremony, with a country-made pistol. Sumit was rushed to the Sultanpur district hospital immediately.
Outraged villagers at the temple, however, grabbed Singh and Yadav men and started to thrash them. Both of them were rescued by the local police and were taken to the local community health centre in a heavily injured state. Both succumbed to their injuries at the centre.
Senior police officials, including Additional Superintendent of Police BC Dubey and Superintendent of Police Anurag Arya reached the spot with a heavy contingent of additional forces to ensure that that the area remained peaceful.
On the basis of a complaint filed by the brother of one of the deceased, the police has lodged an FIR against six people under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the SHO said.
However, no arrests have been made so far. "We are trying to identify the villagers who were involved..." said SP Arya.