In a tragic incident in Krishnagiri that brings to light the plight of the abandoned mentally-ill, a mob chased a youth to death mistaking him for a thief on Sunday.
The victim, aged around 25 years, was aimlessly roaming around in Kattinaickenpalli for the past two days. On Sunday, a few local residents confronted him and questioned his credentials. When the youth was unable to give coherent replies, the villagers grew suspicious and mistook him to be a thief.
Some of the villagers thrashed him prompting the youth to run on the streets. In a bid to flee from his attackers, he ran on the banks of the Kattinaickenpalli Lake and at one point lost balance and fell into the lake.
His pursuers, who were taken aback, then informed the police. Later, after at two-hour search, the Fire and Rescue Services personnel fished out the victim’s body from the lake.
The body was taken to the Krishnagiri Government Hospital for postmortem. “We are unable to establish the identity of the deceased. He was supposedly talking in Kannada when he was confronted by the local people,” a police officer said.
The police here suspect that he might belong to the neighbouring Karnataka state.
Krishnagiri Taluk police Inspector Jaisankar said a case has been registered and local people were being questioned about the incident.