Man beaten to death after locals suspect him to be a thief

An unidentified middle-aged man was allegedly beaten to death today by the residents of Panchvati Society here, thinking him to be a thief.
According to the police, the residents found the man, aged about 35-40, moving in the area in a suspicious way at around 5 am.
At around 6 am, police learnt about the incident and rushed to the spot to find him tied to a tree, and dead.
"Though it is still unclear if he was a thief or not, we learned that angry locals thought he was a thief and started thrashing him. They tore up his shirt and tied him to a tree. When we reached, he was already dead. We have sent his body for post-mortem," said police inspector M B Vyas.

A case of murder was filed against 20 to 25 unidentified persons. No arrest had been made yet, police said.