Delhi: Man beaten up on suspicion of child-lifting dies

New Delhi

New Delhi

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A 27-year-old daily wager, who was beaten up by a family and their neighbours on suspicion of child lifting after he entered their house in north-west Delhi’s Ashok Vihar on September 3 night, died early Saturday.

Police said three men who were arrested for the assault have now been booked for murder.

Recapping the incident, police said one Yashwant Kumar, a resident of Jailor Wala Bagh, had called them up that night, saying he had caught a child lifter who had entered his house.

The man, identified as Govind, was critically injured and had to be taken to a hospital, police said.

“A police team reached the hospital and found that the house owner and his neighbours had thrashed the suspect, identified as Govind, a daily wage labourer who lived nearby. The man was critically injured. Yashwant Kumar (35) and his neighbours Rakesh Yadav, 22, and Phool Chand, 69, were arrested for beating up the man and were charged with attempt to murder,” said a police officer who did not wish to be named.

The three arrested men are also labourers, police said.

Kumar told police he has a young daughter and suspected Govind had entered his house to kidnap her.

Police found Govind had no past criminal involvement. “He had told police he was being chased by some local residents with whom he had a fight and he entered Yashwant’s house to hide from them,” the officer said.

Deputy commissioner of police (northwest) Vijayanta Arya said while all the three men continued to be in jail, on Saturday they received information from Safdarjung Hospital that Govind had succumbed to his injuries.

“We leant he had recuperated for a while and was discharged. We were told he died of internal bleeding. His body was sent for a post-mortem examination to find the exact cause of his death,” Arya said.

The DCP said the three arrested men have now been charged with murder.

This is the second incident in a month of a mob beating up a person on suspicion of child lifting.

On August 27, a 26-year-old speech-impaired woman, who was five months pregnant, was assaulted by a mob that suspected her of kidnapping children in east Delhi’s Mandoli Extension.

A 70-second video had emerged of the mob assaulting the woman as she sat crying and begging for mercy.

Police registered a case based on the video on September 1 and three suspects — 27-year-old electrician Deepak and 52-year-old homemaker Shakuntala and 29-year-old photographer Lalit Kumar— were arrested for assault.