One farmer died and six fellow peasants sustained injuries in a brutal beating by villagers in Madhya Pradesh’s Dhar district, 251 kms southwest of Bhopal, after they were cunningly declared child-lifters by a few labourers from the village who owed the farmers money, police said on Wednesday.
The deceased farmer has been identified as Ganesh Patel, 35, who was driving one of the cars the farmers were travelling in.
Dhar superintendent of police Dr Rajneesh said: “Five farmers--Naveen Sharma, Jagdish Sharma, Jagdish Patel, Vinod Mukati and Ravi Patel-- all residents of Limboda Pipliya village in Ujjain district had given money to five labourers- Jam Singh, Avtar Singh, Rajesh, Sunil and Mahesh-- all residents of Khidkiya village in Dhar district to work in their agriculture fields. But the labourers went back to their village after doing some of the work. It was in this connection that the farmers were at Khidkiya village under Tirla police station in two vehicles to get their money back when they were dubbed as child lifters by the labourers and attacked with stones.”
The city SP said that when the under attack victims tried to flee the village, the labourers spread the rumour that they were child-lifters prompting the villagers to give them a chase.
{{/usCountry}}The city SP said that when the under attack victims tried to flee the village, the labourers spread the rumour that they were child-lifters prompting the villagers to give them a chase.
{{/usCountry}}“When the victims reached near Borlai village under Manawar police station, the accused and other villagers intercepted them and beat them up, resulting in the death of one of them. One of their cars was set afire and the other car was also damaged,” added Rajneesh.
One of victims, Vinod Mukati said that they had informed the Tirla police station of their visit to the village to recover the money and yet they got attacked.
“We were seven persons who reached Khidkiya village on the request of labourers to get our money back. An amount of ₹50,000 each had been given to five labourers. We had already told the Tirla police station officer that we were going to the village. But we were attacked with stones,” Mukati said narrating the sequence of events.
He said the labourers not only misled the crowd into believing that they were child-lifters but also instigated the attack on the farmers.
“They also attacked us with lathis, sticks, fists and kicks,” Mukati added.
Rajneesh said an FIR against the assailants Jam Singh, Bhuvan Singh and others has been lodged initially under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapon), 149 (guilty of unlawful assembly with common objective), 307 (attempt to murder), 427 (damage to property by mischief) and 435 (mischief by fire or an explosive substance with intent to cause damage) of the Indian Penal Code. Since one of the victims had died, police will add section 302 (murder) to the FIR.
“Investigation is going on. A manhunt has been launched to arrest the accused,” added the city SP.