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Suspected lynching in Lucknow: Villagers gherao police station after five youths detained for questioning
The villagers, armed with sticks, tried to force their way inside the police station and the personnel posted at the entrance had to use “mild force” to keep them out, said police.
A group of villagers gheraoed the Gosaiganj police station in Lucknow on Friday after cops detained five youths of their area in connection with a case of suspected lynching.
The villagers, armed with sticks, tried to force their way inside the police station and the personnel posted at the entrance had to use “mild force” to keep them out, said police. Later, senior officials had to rush to the spot and additional police force from nearby stations was also summoned to ensure peace.
Police said they released the detained men after preliminary questioning.
They said the incident was related to the discovery of an unidentified man’s body, with visible external injuries, from Kabirpur village of Gosiaganj on Thursday morning. The team investigating the matter has still not been able to ascertain the identity of the deceased.
Vijay Kumar Singh, station house officer (SHO), Gosaiganj police station, said, “The houses of the men detained for questioning were closest to the spot from where the body was recovered. So, we brought them here to get more information about the deceased and the conditions under which he died. They were later allowed to go.”
A cop posted at Gosaiganj, on condition anonymity, said that prima facie the case appeared to be that of lynching.
“The murmurings in the village are that the deceased had tried to enter a house with intention of theft in the wee hours of Thursday but he was caught by a group of villagers. The men started beating him and were joined by a few others. Later, they dumped him outside the village where he apparently succumbed to his injuries,” he said.
The SHO also confirmed the presence of injury marks on the body of the deceased. “The clothes the man was wearing were torn in several places and there were visible injury marks on his body. We have sent the body for post-mortem examination,” he said.
Meanwhile, the police team investigating the case was given a cold shoulder by the villagers.
“The villagers have not been very cooperative in the investigation, so far. Most of them are not even ready to speak about it,” said the SHO. “We are trying to gather more information about the man from the nearby areas,” he added.
Till the time the report was filed, the police had not received any complaint in the matter.
