Gandhinagar: Man lynched over suspicion of theft, 5 held

“Last night, around 10 pm, I got a call from Babu Prajapati that a person who was trying to steal in the house of Amrat Prajapati was caught by them. However, when we reached the spot, the 50-year-old man, who has not been identified, was dead as he was mercilessly beaten up after being tied to a tree. There was a mob of around 40-50 villagers. We detained the five who were present at the spot. They were arrested today by Local Crime Branch, which is investigating the case,” Sub-Inspector of Danta police station B K Goswami said.

According to the police, the deceased had entered the porch of the house of Amrat Prajapati on Saturday night and allegedly tried to steal the silver ornaments worn by an old woman member of the family. After the old woman raised an alarm, Amrat and others woke up and caught hold of the man. Later, he was tied to a tree and beaten to death, said the police.

“The deceased was a thief and was beaten to death by the mob in the village after he tried to commit a theft. We are trying to establish the identity of the deceased on the basis of a couple of tattoo marks on his body and DNA samples,” Banaskantha SP Pradeep Sejul said.