Jamshedpur: In a shocking incident, three men were lynched in Rajnagar of the adjoining Seraikela-Kharsawan district following a rumour about their being members of a child lifters� gang.
The killings came only a few days after similar incidents reported in Jadugora and Sundarnagar block of East Singhbhum.
The irate mob lynched three persons, identified as Sheikh Naim (35), Sheikh Sajju (25) and Sheikh Siraj (26) after accusing them of involvement in child-lifting activities.
Another youth, identified as Sheikh Halim, 28, was critically injured in the mob attack. The agitated villagers not only lynched the three, but also set two vehicles, including a police jeep on fire at Shobhapur village in Rajnagar block.
The mob thrashed the officer-in-charge, Rajnagar police station, Tuleswar Kushbaha and two more cops including assistant sub-inspector Manoj Singh at Shobhapur village.
Deputy inspector general (Kolhan) of police, Prabhat Kumar confirmed the three deaths over the rumour of child-lifting at Rajnagar block in the morning. “We are investigating the incident. In view of the tense situation in the Shobhapur village and adjoing Shosomauli village, we have made deployment of adequate police force. We are also going to hold meetings of village-heads in this regard,” said Kumar.
According to information, Naim was a resident of Ghatshila having his in-laws’ house in Haldipokhar in Potka block while the rest two were the residents of Haldipokhar. All the four were cattle traders and had been to Rajnagar for buying cattle in the night.
“Rumours of child lifting have gripped the village from past few days. As they were crossing Hessel village near Rajnagar, the villagers chased them and stopped the car near a Daru village, where they caught hold of one of the four. The agitated villagers inflicted grievous injuries to the Naim, where as the other three managed to escape,” said a senior police officer.
The officer said after searching in the adjoining villages, the villagers surrounded Shobhapur village, suspecting that the three who had fled must be hiding there. “When Tuleswar Kushbaha received information about this all, he rushed to the spot.
About 100 agitated villagers attacked the police and set the police van on fire. They also set the car the four suspected child-lifters had used also on fire. They also assaulted OC, assistant sub-inspector Manoj Singh and also a police customer,” said the police officer.
The police said they rushed a critically injured, Naim to Seraikela sub-divisional hospital, where he died in the noon. They recovered the three bodies and sent one of them to the MGM Medical College mortuary and the other two to the Seraikela sub-divisional hospital for post-mortem.