Man lynched for trying to poison hand pump

A man was beaten to death by a mob for trying to poison a hand pump in a village in Bihar, police said Thursday.

Rinku Kumar, in his mid-20s, was beaten to death Wednesday evening in Ramdeo Modh in Nawada district.

"He was beaten to death with bamboo sticks and bricks after being caught by people for trying to poison the hand pump," police official Saifur Rahman said.

"Rinku allegedly poisoned the hand pump of Amerika Rajvanshi. His daughter fainted after drinking water from the hand pump, and that angered local people who beat him to death," police said.

Earlier this month, the government asked the Criminal Investigation Department to investigate instances of water poisoning in schools in the state.

Reports of children falling ill after drinking water from hand pumps have been received from at least 50 schools from across the state over the past few days.

This comes after the July 16 tragedy in Saran district, where 23 children died after eating their mid-day meal. The food was found to contain a poisonous substance used to make insecticides.