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West Bengal mob lynches two, injures three over cattle-theft suspicion in Darjeeling
The five men were intercepted after reaching a village near the Matigara-Bagdogra border in a car and pickup van around 2.30 am.
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A mob lynched two people and assaulted three others on suspicion of being cattle-lifters near Bagdogra in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district in the early hours of Saturday, police said.
According to the police, locals intercepted five people alleging that they were stealing cows, and assaulted them. While four of them were residents of Haryana, one was a resident of Chopra in West Bengal’s Uttar Dinajpur.
Police said while one person died on the spot, another died on the way to hospital.
The three injured have been identified as Amir Sattar, Akram Khan and Arif Khan, all residents of Haryana.
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Two deceased identified by police
“One of the two deceased was identified as Shahid Akhtar, a resident of Sonapur under Chopra police station. The other deceased is Sajjad Mohammad, a resident of Haryana,” Anirban Majumdar, additional commissioner of police, Siliguri, said.
According to locals, all five were intercepted after they reached Tarabari village on the border of Matigara and Bagdogra police stations between 2.30 and 3.00 am on Saturday in a car and a pickup van. They suspected that the gang had come to steal cattle, citing similar incidents in the past.
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“They were chased from Tarabari in Matigara to Dhimal in Bagdogra police station. The villagers caught the miscreants and attacked them. The pickup van was set on fire and the car was damaged,” a local said. “Investigation is going on. Raids were being conducted,” a senior police officer said.
