Migrant lynched over suspicion of theft, Cong councillor among 6 detained

Surat: A migrant worker from Bihar was allegedly lynched by a group of men in Pandesara area, reportedly after they suspected him of being a thief, in the early hours of Sunday.
The victim Sangam Pandit, a native of Bihar, died during treatment in Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) run SMIMER hospital. Pandit, who was around 30 years old, was employed in a local textile mill.
Police booked and detained six persons including a Congress municipal councillor of Vadod area in Pandesara, Satish Patel, allegedly involved in the crime, for questioning. Police initially registered an offence of rioting, attempt to murder and attack but added the section of murder after Pandit succumbed.
The complaint was lodged by Sujit Singh, a textile businessman and Pandit’s friend, in Pandesara police station.
In his complaint, Singh said that Pandit and he had gone to meet their friend in Bhestan on Saturday night. While returning home in Sachin area at around 2am on motorcycle, they took wrong road by mistake and reached Bhairavnagar. Patel and others, who were sitting outside, stopped the duo and accused them of being thieves, Singh alleged in the complaint. Pandit was then smashed on head with some blunt object due to which he suffered serious injuries while Singh suffered fracture in both legs due to thrashing.
Police said that Pandit’s parents work in Mumbai as labourers and efforts are being made to contact them.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the attackers were sitting on the road when they spotted the duo and attacked them. However, one of the persons named Pratik, who was detained for questioning, claimed that he had a fight with a man named Vicky on Friday night and assumed that the two were the latter’s men who had come to attack him.
"Pratik claimed that he had a fight with Vicky over some personal dispute on Friday night. Vicky was thrashed by Pratik then and both groups had fought on Saturday night too," claimed DK Patel, police inspector, Pandesara police station.
Patel claimed the assailants thought they were Vicky’s men. “However, we are taking their claims with a pinch of salt," Patel said when asked why only two persons would be sent to attack a group.