Young men beaten up at Khajra on suspicion over kidnapping local boy

Villagers beat up three young men on the suspicion that they were child-lifters at West Midnapore's Khajra village on Tuesday night. Police rescued the men and took them to the hospital. They were admitted there in a critical condition.

Police learnt that the young men were travelling to Odisha from West Midnapore's Narayangarh when the villagers stopped their car. Villagers asked them about a missing boy but they could not answer properly. Some of the villagers then dragged them out of the car and started to beat them up, suspecting them of being child-lifters.

A police van which was passing the scene of the incident as the men were being assaulted stopped there and rescued the victims. They were then taken to a local hospital but the doctors could not guarantee their immediate recovery. The investigators learnt that a boy had gone missing some weeks ago from the village and the villagers were desperately trying to find him. They had thought that the three young men were child lifters, who had returned to the village to kidnap another boy.

"The victims were actually going to Odisha along with a priest in that car. It is not clear if the victims were connected to the abduction of the village boy or not. But we have started an investigation," said a police officer.