Two more ‘thieves’ lynched in Bihar

On Friday night, two suspected thieves were bludgeoned to death in Patna’s Nutan Colony by a mob of about 200, reports Rama Shankar.

Two more people have died at the hands of a lynch mob in Bihar.

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On Friday night, two suspected thieves were bludgeoned to death in Patna’s Nutan Colony by a mob of about 200. Superintendent of Police (City) Anwar Hussain said a mob gathered in the area, which falls under the Sultanganj police station’s jurisdiction, after news spread that three men were looting passersby.

The trio — all of them in their 20s — was chased by the enraged crowd. One of them jumped into a pond in a desperate bid to escape the mob fury, but he was pulled out and bludgeoned to death with sticks and iron rods. Initially, it seemed that the other two got away, but one body was recovered from the pond on Saturday.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (Patna City) S.P. Choudhary said: “We are trying to ascertain whether the youth, who was not immediately identified, drowned or was beaten to death and then dumped in the pond.” The body was sent for a post-mortem. Choudhary said the other man beaten to death was identified as Ajeet Kumar, of Bakhtiyarpaur. “Kumar had criminal antecedents and we are trying to collate his record,” said Choudhary.

The bodies remained unclaimed till Saturday night.

There have been many incidents of mob justice in Bihar recently and the latest incident comes a mere two days after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar fined a village where 10 alleged thieves were lynched.