Man from Uttar Pradesh lynched in Tripura on child-lifting suspicion
Agartala, Jun 29 (IBNS): A hawker from Uttar Pradesh was lynched by a frenzied mob in Tripura on Thursday at Sidhai Mohanpur, 25 km from Tripura's capital town Agartala following a WhatsApp rumour about child lifters being on the prowl, media reports said.
Three other persons who were also severely beaten up, are battling for life in the hospital.
While the murdered man has been identified as Zahir Khan (30) of UP’s Muzaffarnagar, two of the three injured persons – Gulzar Ahmed Khan and Khurshid Khan — are from Bihar.
The third injured man has been identified as Swapan Miya, a local.
According to reports, the locals thought that the man was a part of the gang of three people, believed to be child-lifters, who reached the town near state capital Agartala.
It later transpired that the men were small traders of small electric tools. They were being accompanied by their local contact, Swapan Miya.
Media reports quoted police as saying that a rumour that they were child lifters led to the incident. “Due to a rumour in the area, people thought that those in the car were child abductors. Then they started assaulting the four," police said.
They said at least a thousand-strong mob had gathered at the site and the police had to fire tear gas shells and even fired in the air to disperse the crowd.
Police said that rumours of child lifters being active in the area for last few days were doing the rounds on social media.
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