18-year-old lynched in Dongri in case of mistaken identity

An 18-year-old was lynched in Dongri, on Thursday, by a crowd that mistook him for a robber. The police are looking for the 5 or 6 unidentified men who beat the boy to death.

An 18-year-old was lynched in Dongri, on Thursday, by a crowd that mistook him for a robber. The police are looking for the 5 or 6 unidentified men who beat the boy to death.

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According to the Dongri police, the victim, identified as Sukhi Rehman Shaikh, a resident of Puna Estate slums in Danabunder, was on his way to a grocery store at 6 am when a few men raised an alarm about a fleeing robber.

Shaikh was walking near Uma Quarters when the crowd grabbed him and accused him of stealing a mobile phone belonging to one of the men in the mob.

“The boy said he was innocent but the mob was in no mood to listen and started beating him. A man in the crowd picked up a bamboo stick lying nearby and started thrashing the boy,” PSI S Jagdale, from Dongri police station, said. The boy’s screams were heard by his elder brother Shafikaral, 27, who was in Puna Estate. “Seeing the brother the crowd dispersed leaving Shaikh badly bleeding and unconscious. Shafikaral took Shaikh to JJ Hospital and informed the police,” Jagdale said.

Shaikh was, however, declared dead on arrival at the hospital. “We have sent Shaikh’s body for a post mortem and are trying to trace those who beat him. We will arrest them on murder charges. If the crowd suspected Shaikh of robbery they should have contacted us and not beat the boy to death,” Jagdale added.