Four held for thrashing man on suspicion of child theft in Noida

According to police, the victim, identified as Rahul, a resident of Gejha village, was roaming in Yakubpur dressed as a woman on Sunday. A rumour spread that he is a child kidnapper following which he was beaten up

Gautam Budh Nagar police on Tuesday evening arrested four people for allegedly thrashing a man in Yakubpur village over suspicions of child theft. The incident occurred on Sunday but an FIR was registered on Tuesday following which the four suspects were apprehended.

A video of the incident surfaced on social media on Tuesday evening, following which police took suo moto cognizance of the incident and asked the victim to file a complaint. (Video grab/HT Photo)

According to police, the victim, identified as Rahul, a resident of Gejha village, was roaming in Yakubpur dressed as a woman on Sunday. A rumour spread that he is a child kidnapper following which he was beaten up. “Someone spread a rumour that Rahul is a child kidnapper while he was roaming around the village on Sunday. The villagers gathered and thrashed him, later parading him around the village. A police team reached the spot after getting to know about the incident and freed the victim from the villagers. He was then sent to a hospital for treatment. The villagers also recorded the assault on video,” Paramhans Tiwari, in-charge, Phase 2 police station, said. No complaint was registered in the matter at the time, he added.

“A video of the incident surfaced on social media on Tuesday evening, following which police took suo moto cognizance of the incident and asked the victim to file a complaint. After thorough investigation, the suspects in the video were identified and arrested from their residences in Yakubpur,” Tiwari said.

The suspects have been identified as Harendra Bansal (38), Pranav Sarthi (36), Siya Ram (35) and Satya Prakash (26). They have been booked under sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

“Investigation revealed that the victim is a cross-dresser who begs for alms in different areas of the district. The arrested men were produced in the court and sent to judicial custody on Wednesday,” Saad Miya Khan, additional deputy commissioner of police, Central Noida, said.