‘Cattle thief’ lynched by mob in Assam village

GUWAHATI: A person was beaten to death and three others were seriously injured on Thursday morning in an alleged attack by a mob that suspected them of being cattle thieves. The incident occurred near Diplonga tea estate in Assam’s Biswanath district.

Police said Sankat Munda, a villager from Diplonga, had raised an alarm early in the morning after he found two of his cows missing. When locals started searching the area, they came across Deben Rajbongshi (35), Pujan Ghatowar (40), Phulchand Sahu (25) and Bijoy Nayak (25) — who were allegedly escaping with the cows. They intercepted the four and started beating them up.

The police rescued the four. While Deben died in hospital, the others are in a critical condition, said SP (Biswanath) Diganta Kumar Choudhury. “Avan and two cows were also seized,” he said, adding, “The van has no number plate.”

“Police have taken up a suo motu case of lynching. Another case has been filed by Sankat alleging cattle theft. Several people involved in the lynching have been identified and picked up,” the SP said. All four were residents of a village about 8 km from the incident site.