Dalit man lynched in Raebareli, Rahul Gandhi speaks to family

Raebareli: A 40-year-old Dalit man was allegedly lynched by villagers who mistook him for a thief during a night vigil amid rumours that a gang was using drones for surveillance to mark houses for robberies, police said on Monday.

Five people have been arrested in the case and three police personnel have been suspended for alleged negligence, they said, adding the accused come from different social backgrounds, including Dalits and other backward castes. Police appealed to residents not to spread any caste-related rumours about the incident.

The deceased was identified as Hariom, a resident of neighbouring Fatehpur district. Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai on Monday visited Hariom’s family and claimed that the victim was beaten up when he took Rahul Gandhi’s name. He alleged that “jungle raj” was prevailing in the state. Gandhi spoke to the victim’s brother on phone and assured him of all support.

According to police, residents in several villages in the Unchahar police station area have been keeping night vigils following rumours that drone surveillance was being done to orchestrate thefts.

On Wednesday night, Hariom was walking to his in-laws’ house in the New Basti area of Unchahar town to meet his wife Pinky and his daughter Ananya when some villagers became suspicious of his movement near the Jamunapur crossing and started questioning him, police said.

When he failed to respond to their queries, the villagers brutally thrashed him, suspecting him of being a thief, they said.

Eyewitnesses told police that the mob dragged the victim to the Ishwardaspur railway station and left him there in a critical condition.

On Thursday morning, villagers found his body lying near the railway track, according to police.

His clothes were torn and there were multiple injury marks on his body.

Police said by the time they reached the spot, the man, who was lying in a pool of blood, had succumbed to his injuries.

Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Sanjeev Kumar Sinha said that a case of murder has been registered and five accused have been arrested -- Vaibhav Singh, Bipin Maurya, Vijay Maurya, Sahdev and Suresh Kumar -- and sent to jail.

Efforts are on to identify and arrest the remaining culprits, he said.