MUMBAI 23 people have so far been arrested in connection with the lynching of five people in Maharashtras Dhule district on Sunday, police said.
We have registered a case and arrested 23 people till now. On basis of photos and videos of the incident, we have identified some more accused, Dhule Superintendent of Police said on Monday.
Currently 5 teams are searching for them, he added.
On Sunday, the five who were killed, along with a few others had reached the tribal Rainpada hamlet by a state transport bus.
When one of them tried to speak to a girl child the villagers who had incidentally gathered there for the weekly Sunday bazaar attacked them, suspecting that they were part of a gang of child lifters, police said.
According to the police, rumours that a gang of child lifters were active in the area had been circulating through WhatsApp groups.
According to a report in NDTV, an angry mob began attacking the men, eventually locking them in a room and hitting them with bricks and stones until they were lying comatose.
The police confirmed that 5 men were killed in the mob attack. Reports suggest that two of the men managed to flee.
Reportedly, as the police prepared to take the bodies away, the villagers demanded that two of the bodies be taken out of the car to be certain that they were dead.
Minister of State (MoS) for Maharashtra Deepak Kesarkar, spoke to news agency ANI, urging people not to take law into their own hands and not to believe posts circulated through social media.
The incident comes amidst a spate of attacks stemming from suspicion after videos of child lifting were actively circulated over WhatsApp.
In a similar case, two migrant workers from Bihar were severely injured by a mob on suspicions of child lifting in Chennai. In Assam, a woman was tied to a pole and beaten up by a mob, again in similar circumstances.
Nashik Police rescued a total of 5 people from a house in Azad Nagar in Malegaon Sunday night, who were kept hostage on suspicion of child theft.
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