A 30-year-old man died of burn injuries after he was allegedly tortured over suspicion of stealing a mobile phone and wallet in Kerala's capital Thiruvananthapuram.
The man, a resident of the city's Thiruvallom area, was thrashed allegedly by seven men who burnt his genitals with a sharp and hot weapon, the police said.
According to the police, the attackers, who included auto-rickshaw drivers, accused him of stealing the phone and wallet of a man sleeping at Thiruvananthapuram's main bus stand.
The police said the man had suffered 40 per cent burn injuries on his genitals.
"The burns were in the private body parts and that could have led to his death," the police was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The police have arrested five of the seven men seen in a video recorded by passers-by.
The accused have been identified as Naseer, Dinesh Varghese, Arun, Sajan and Robinson.
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