Mentally unsound man mistaken as child lifter, beaten up: police

A 53-year-old man of unsound mind was on Monday beaten up by some residents of a village in neighbouring Fatehpur district on suspicion of being a child-lifter, said police.

The incident occurred at Kot village in Khakhreru police station area amid the state-wide rumour about gangs of child lifters being on prey in the neighbourhood to kidnap children, the police said.

The victim appeared to be of unsound mind, having lost his way, and was roaming around when some women mistook him as a child-lifter and raised an alarm, said Circle Inspector Kapil Dev Misra.

The women's alarm prompted some villagers to catch hold of the man and beat him up, said Mishra.

On coming to know of the incident, the police rushed to the spot and rescued the man, who appeared to be of unsound mind, said the police inspector.

He was neither able to tell his name nor his address, he added.

The area police appealed to the villagers to not to pay heed to rumours about child lifters.