Noida: Guard carrying school bag thrashed over child-lifting rumours

GHAZIABAD: A 50-year-old guard with EDM mall returning home from work was beaten up by a mob on suspicion of being a child-lifter in Khoda Colony on Monday evening. A total of 16 persons were arrested. The victim Anuranjan Singh is a resident of Prem Vihar and os a security guard with EDM mall in Kaushambi area for several years.
Sandeep Singh, the SHO of Khoda police station, said the guard was returning home after work when a group of youths suspected him to be a child-lifter because he was carrying a school bag on his shoulders. “He had a school bag on the shoulders. Seeing that, people thought he was a child-lifter and beat him up,” he added. A group of youths passing by stopped Singh and asked him what he was carrying in the bag. They started beating him up. Singh suffered injuries in the right leg and shoulders.
The mob kept beating Singh and dragged him to Khoda police station. When the bag was opened at the police station, four chapatis and some curry was found in a tiffin box. “The victim told police that when he was being beaten up by the mob, he tried to tell them he is a security guard. But nobody listened to him,” the SHO said.
An FIR has been registered against the arrested accused along with some unknown persons under sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the IPC. The accused will be presented in court on Tuesday.