: A mob of villagers lynched four persons, seriously injured another and torched three vehicles in Jeypore sadar police station limits in Koraput district of Odisha.
The bodies of lynched victims, in their early thirties, were recovered near the bridge at Balia village on the outskirts of Jeypore town on Thursday morning.
Although their identity has not yet been ascertained, according to Koraput Superintendent of Police (SP) C.S. Meena, there is a possibility they were from outside Odisha, probably from Madhya Pradesh.
A torched Tata Safari in which the lynched persons were suspected to be travelling and a burnt down bike were found at Nuaput, a nearby village. The person who was travelling on the bike was rescued by the police in a serious condition. He has been admitted to Jeypore hospital.
The other vehicle, a commander jeep that had been burnt down by a mob was located near Palkaput village. Bags of marijuana were found inside the damaged vehicle. It is suspected that the mob mistook persons involved in ganja smuggling as child abductors.
According to police sources, the violent incidents are suspected to have occurred between Wednesday midnight and wee hours of Thursday.
The police have already rounded up over 50 persons from Balia, Nuaput and Palkaput for interrogation. But no one had been arrested till afternoon.
For the last few weeks, rumours about a gang abducting small children for body parts was doing the rounds in villages, on the outskirts of Jeypore.
