2 men, suspected of stealing, beaten to death in Azadpur Mandi

The DCP said that cases of theft have been registered against the two killed men as well after the alleged killers wanted to file complaints against them.

Two men, suspected of pickpocketing, were lynched to death by a mob at the Azadpur Mandi in north Delhi on Tuesday morning, the police said. Two traders at the mandi were arrested by Tuesday evening in connection with the murders, police sources said.

The dead men have been identified as Lokesh and Ved Prakash alias Bhaiya, both 24 years old. Lokesh belonged to Bharola village nearby, while Prakash lived in a slum cluster in Jahangirpuri, not far from the mandi. (Representative image)

The dead men have been identified as Lokesh and Ved Prakash alias Bhaiya, both 24 years old. Lokesh belonged to Bharola village nearby, while Prakash lived in a slum cluster in Jahangirpuri, not far from the mandi.

By the time the police arrived, one of the men, Lokesh, was already dead and his body was being sewed up in a sack, in a bid to dispose of it, while the other man, Ved Prakash, was badly injured. Both were rushed to the hospital, where they were declared dead on arrival.

“While suspicion of pickpocketing appears to be the only reason behind the lynching, we are still investigating the case from all angles. So far, we have not found any criminal antecedents of the two dead men,” said Usha Rangnani, deputy commissioner of police (north-west).

The DCP said that cases of theft have been registered against the two killed men as well after the alleged killers wanted to file complaints against them. “While no previous criminal involvement against Lokesh has emerged so far, Prakash was found to be earlier involved in four theft cases and one each of robbery and snatching,” said Rangnani.

Another investigator, not authorised to speak to the media, said two mandi traders, Rakesh and Sunil Pandey, were arrested by evening. “Rakesh was caught from the spot by the family of one of the victims and handed over to us. Pandey was arrested by us following a probe. We are identifying the other killers by analysing the CCTV footage,” said the investigator.

The officer said a case of murder as well as tampering of evidence has been registered against the alleged killers at Mahendra Park police station. “The section on tampering of evidence was added because of their attempt to dispose of Lokesh’s body in a sack,” said the officer.

Lokesh’s brother, Anuj, said his brother played the drums at weddings to earn a living. Ved Prakash, on the other hand, worked in the mandi itself.

Anuj said an acquaintance called him from the mandi on Tuesday morning to inform that his brother was being thrashed by a mob. “When we reached there, we found some people sewing up a sack in a hurry. When we asked them about what was inside, they replied that it was just “goods”. But we forcibly opened the sack to find my brother’s body inside. He was already dead,” Anuj said.

A few metres away was Ved Prakash, lay tied up and bleeding from the head.

The investigator, quoted above, said the killers knew that their thrashing was fatal.

“They thought that they could dispose of Lokesh’s body in a sack by placing it amid vegetable sacks and moving it away from the spot. They would have done the same with the other victim as well, but Lokesh’s family arrived there before they could go ahead with their plans,” said the investigator.

Around the same time, at about 7.30am, the police at the Azadpur Mandi police post were alerted about the mob lynching. “We immediately reached the place to find the two men badly injured,” said the DCP, adding that Lokesh was found in a sack.

The police moved both men to the Babu Jagjivan Ram Hospital where they were declared brought dead.

Lokesh’s family handed over a couple of men, whom they claimed were the killers, but the police are yet to ascertain their involvement.

The DCP said the initial probe has suggested that a few individuals, rather than a mob, was involved in the killings. “A crowd did gather, but they were mostly curious onlookers,” the officer claimed.

This is not the first instance of someone being beaten black and blue on suspicion of stealing in Azadpur Mandi. Last August, a labourer was beaten to death by two truck drivers on the suspicion that he had stolen their cash. They tied him up and drove away with him stuffed in their truck until the traffic police stopped them and discovered the man all injured and tied up. He later succumbed to injuries.