RANCHI: In another incident of mob lynching in Jharkhand, a man was beaten to death and another person critically injured after villagers accused them of stealing vegetables from their fields early on Wednesday in Jamtara, around 225 kilometres from the state capital Ranchi.
Police said six persons have been arrested in this connection after an FIR was registered at Karmatar Police Station, while one of the accused is still at large.
The deceased has been identified as Saykul alias Fahwa Ansari while Binod Mondal, who received critical injuries, has been admitted to Patliputra Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) in Dhanbad.
“After being informed about the incident on Wednesday, we rushed to the spot and found Binod Mondal, 50, screaming with pain inside the bushes near the fields in Karmatar. He said that he along with his friend, Sayakul, 46, had been thrown into the nearby well after being thrashed brutally by the villagers,” said the officer in charge of Karmatar Police Station Ram Sarik Tiwari. Both of them belonged to Kashitanr village near where the incident took place, he added.
According to Tiwari, standing vegetable crops were being stolen by someone for the last few weeks which prompted villagers to keep a close watch around their fields in the night. On Tuesday night, they spotted four people entering into their fields and an alarm was raised, following which they succeeded in nabbing two of the intruders.
“They allegedly were thrashed brutally with bamboo sticks and canes and thrown into a well after falling unconscious. Later, according to Binod, somehow he managed to climb out of the well but Sayakul succumbed to his injuries,” said Tiwari. The body of Sayakul was recovered from the well and sent for postmortem, while Binod was rushed to Sadar Hospital from where he was referred to PMCH, he added.
Tiwari said an FIR under Section 302 (murder) along with other sections of the IPC against the accused persons has been lodged.