Three men were dragged out of a house and beaten to death in Jharkhand's East Singhbhum district.
Highlights
- 3 men dragged out of house, beaten to death in East Singhbhum district
- 3 other men, cattle-traders in neighbouring district, too beaten to death
- Hundreds of villagers protested against killings, clashed with cops
As he lies almost lifeless, a violent mob that kept kicking and thrashing him is still not done. It doesn't end until he stops moving. More horror is unleashed as two others are beaten brutally as policemen try unsuccessfully to control the raging crowd in horrific visuals that have emerged of the killing of three men in Jharkhand on Thursday.
The trio - Vikas Kumar Verma, Gautam Kumar Verma and Gangesh Gupta - were dragged out of a house and beaten to death on Thursday in Nagadih in East Singhbhum district as villagers accused them of kidnapping children. An old woman was also brutally assaulted.
"They killed my boys, they beat up my mother... the administration did nothing, they should have at least tried to stop the attackers or keep them at a safe distance," the father of Vikas and Gautam said, as he broke down. Angry locals have alleged inaction by the administration.
Police couldn't control the crowd thrashing three men in Jharkhand East Singhbhum
Police say
rumours of child-lifting had been swirling in the region, as well as the neighbouring Saraikela district, where three cattle traders, Nayeem, Seraj Khan and Sajju, were also thrashed to death by a mob.
When the police reached the villages in both cases, they were reportedly completely outnumbered by the mobs. Villagers allegedly turned on the policemen and attacked them, leaving some of them injured.
Cars and police jeeps were also targeted and set on fire by the villagers.
"Anger was spread among people through baseless rumours and they then took law in to their own hands. We are in the process of identifying who are responsible and they will be prosecuted," said DK Pandey, the state's seniormost police officer.
On Saturday, hundreds of villagers clashed with the police in the Jamshedpur region, protesting the killing of the six men over suspicion of being child-lifters. Cops had to resort to lathi-charge and used tear gas at some places to control angry protesters.
Strongly condemning the killings, Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Friday announced Rs 2 lakh compensation for the family of each victim and directed authorities to identify and act against the accused.
(With input from agencies)