Accused of stealing cauliflower, physically challenged man lynched in Bihar

A physically challenged man was beaten to death for allegedly stealing a cauliflower from an agricultural field in Sitamarhi district of north Bihar.

Police said some people accused Dular Rai, 55, of stealing the cauliflower and badly thrashed him at Mahuawa Motnajay village in Bathnaha police station area, 25 km east of Sitamarhi town and 143 km north of Patna, on Sunday morning.

Bathnaha police station SHO Prabhat Ranjan Saxena said Rai succumbed to his injuries at Sitamarhi sadar (government) hospital in the evening.

Rai’s son Samindra Kumar, however, denied the allegation against his father. “My father had gone to ease himself on the land that belongs to our family, when some villagers from Mahuawa Motnajay village thrashed him. The land is on the border of the two villages,” Kumar said.

The Bathnaha station house officer (SHO) said the police had registered an FIR on the basis of Kumar’s statement. “In his complaint, Kumar has wondered how a physically challenged man can steal anything. Kumar has said his father could have been killed due to enmity between the two villages over some trivial issues,” the SHO said, adding that raids were on to nab the culprits.