Three "thieves" beaten to death by villagers; 100 detained

Three persons were dragged out of their car and beaten to death by a group of villagers in Palghar district of Maharashtra on suspicion that they were thieves, police said on Friday.

Inspector Anandrao Kale of the Kasa police station said the gruesome incident took place between 9.30-10 pm on Thursday.

The mob attack took place at a time when a nationwide lockdown is in force to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The identity of the victims was not yet established, he said, adding more than 100 people have been detained by the police.

The bodies of the three persons, who were travelling in a car from Mumbai, have been sent for post-mortem to the government hospital in Palghar, Kale said.

Their vehicle was stopped on the Dhabadi-Khanvel road near village Gadchinchale by local residents, he said.

They were pulled out of the car and attacked by villagers with stones and other objects on suspicion that they were thieves, he said.

The police, which came to know about the incident in the middle of the night, rushed to the spot and found the three lying dead and their car badly damaged, he said.

An offence under IPC section 302 (murder) along with others, including armed rioting and 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), has been registered, Kale said.

IPC section 188 has been invoked in the case due to the coronavirus-enforced lockdown under which sweeping curbs have been imposed on movement and assembly of people.