A police official said cases of mob lynchings are on a consistent rise in Rajasthan. (Representational)
Over half a dozen men armed with sticks attacked a Congress leader in Bikaner, Rajasthan and fractured his legs, police said on Friday.
Local Congress leader Megh Singh Bhati was attacked by the armed assailants on Bikaner-Jodhpur Highway in Nokha town on Thursday evening when he was returning from the Karni Mata temple with his family members, Nokha police station's station house officer (SHO) Ishwar Chand Jangid said.
The accused, who were in a vehicle, intercepted Mr Bhati's car, and beat him up over an old enmity, the police official said, noting that the Congress leader suffered multiple fractures in legs.
Mr Bhati's wife kept on pleading with assailants to spare her husband but all in vain, the police official said, adding her pleas to the onlookers too proved futile.
The mob also damaged Mr Bhati's car, said the SHO. The three of the accused have been identified as Prithviraj, Brijlal and Hari Singh and efforts are on to arrest them.
Local Congress leaders along with BJP MLA from Nokha have condemned the attack and demanded the arrest of the accused.
BJP state president Satish Poonia also targeted the Congress government over the incident, saying even the Congress leaders are not safe under the rule of the Gehlot government.
He said the cases of mob lynching are on a consistent rise in Rajasthan.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)