Mentally unstable man lynched over child-lifting suspicion in Madhya Pradesh, 10 arrested

BHOPAL: In a shocking incident, a mentally unstable man has allegedly been lynched in tribal-dominated Dindori district of Madhya Pradesh by a mob which suspected him to be child lifter or kidney thief. Ten men have so far been arrested in the case and booked for murder and destruction of evidence.

This the second such incident in the state, as on July 19 late night a mentally challenged homeless woman was allegedly lynched by a mob, suspecting her to be a child lifter in tribal-dominated Singrauli district. As many as 14 men were arrested for the barbaric crime in Singrauli on July 22.

The latest such incident happened possibly on July 28 late night at a village in Samanpur area of Dindori district (470 km from Bhopal) with a 30-plus man hailing from adjoining Annupur district possibly, but came to the fore, when the unidentified man’s slowly decomposing body was spotted floating in a well on August 1 in the same village where he was allegedly lynched.

“With the body having started to decompose, it was very difficult to ascertain its identity. Forensic experts were of the view that it was four to five days old and injury marks suggested that he had been murdered brutally. We questioned the village chowkidar about the man and the information revealed by him led the police to 3-4 persons of the same village,” SP Dindori district Kartikeyan K told The New Indian Express on Monday.

The questioning of 3-4 villagers revealed that the unidentified man had dinner possibly on July 28 at a roadside dhaba, where he was spotted by 8-10 drunk villagers. With rumours of child lifters and kidney thieves abound in the area, the drunk villagers caught hold of him and started questioning him.

“As the victim was mentally unstable, he couldn’t respond to the questions of the villagers properly, which increased their suspicion of him being a child lifter-kidney thief. He was subsequently assaulted by the 10 men with rods. The multiple injuries inflicted in the attack by mob, particularly on the neck resulted in his death,” SP Dindori added.

Seeing that he was dead, the accused then dumped the body in a well and then remained silent over the entire episode.

“Based on interrogation of those detained in connection with the barbaric blind murder, the ten men, all aged between 25 and 35 years were arrested on Sunday night and booked for murder and attempt to destroy the evidence,” SP Dindori said.  

The identity of the deceased too has been ascertained and the body handed over to his kin who arrived from Anuppur district on Sunday.