Karnataka Lynching: In another case of lynching over child-lifting rumors, a Hyderabad-based engineer was beaten to death by a mob in Bidar district of Karnataka on the suspicion that they were a group of child-lifters. Along with the 32-year-old techie, three others including a Qatari national were also injured by the mob.
The deceased techie worked with Accenture and through them was working on a project with Google. According to a report by The Indian Express, the victim Mohammed Azam Ahmed of Malakpet in Hyderabad died on the spot while the Qatari national, 38-year-old Salham Eidal Kubaisi, Noor Mohammed and Mohammed Salman from Barkas in Hyderabad suffered critical injuries. The three were admitted initially to the Bidar Government hospital before being shifted to Hyderabad.
Police officers at Aurad Police Station, the area where the lynching took place, said the three men who circulated the photos and messages on WhatsApp about the four victims have been arrested.
The four victims had set off from Hyderabad on Friday morning to meet a relative at Bidar and attend a social function. After the function, they were en route to see a piece of land that they were interested in purchasing. When the Qatari national was seen handing out foreign chocolates to schoolchildren, people raised an alarm that strangers were luring kids with chocolates and a mob gathered there immediately.
The men sensing danger fled the place but some people had taken photographs of them and circulated on WhatsApp that soon went viral. The villagers in the next village blocked the road with a felled tree. To avoid the blockade, Mohammad Azam, who was driving, tried to go around it at high speed but ended up jumping over a culvert and the vehicle fell into the ditch. The mob pulled them out and beat them mercilessly.
There have been many recent instances in the past where fake videos circulated on social media have led to mob attacks. On July 13, a young woman was thrashed by locals on suspicion of being a child kidnapper before police rescued near Madurai. The woman, who appeared to be from north India, was beaten up by residents of Pathinettankudi near Melur after they tied her hands with a rope.
(An error in the story has been corrected and updated)