Kerala police on Sunday arrested eight persons in connection with the alleged murder of a 36-year-old man from Bihar on suspicion of theft. Police said Rajesh Manji was lynched by locals who caught him after he fell from the sunshade of a house near Kondotty.
"The locals claim that he fell from the sunshade of a house at around 12.30 AM on Saturday. He was caught and tied up by the locals who assaulted him," police said.
Police have arrested eight local residents in connection with the lynching.
Malappuram police chief Sujith Das told the media that there is evidence of assault of the victim.
"The accused have attempted to destroy the evidence. They had tried to erase CCTV visuals. We are recovering everything. Currently, eight people have been arrested and one person was taken into custody for attempting to destroy the evidence," Das said.
He also said that as per the preliminary investigation, the victim was in the locality intending to commit theft.
A special Investigation Team has been formed to probe the case, in which murder charges and section 342 (wrongful restrainment) of the Indian Penal Code has been invoked.
Police said the Bihar native was brought dead to the hospital, and said all the accused had assaulted the victim using plastic pipes and sticks.
The remains of the victim have been handed over to his relatives after post-mortem examination.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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