The city police have arrested five persons on charges of beating to death a 14-year-old boy in the Rukmininagar area here on Friday night.
A group of people caught the boy along with an eight-year-old boy and beat them up, accusing them of making a theft attempt as the two were spotted near a pan shop, the locks of which were found broken.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (Dispur Division) S.L. Barua told The Hindu that a police team rescued the boys and rushed the seriously injured boy to the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital where he died.
The boy had sustained severe head injuries.
He hails from the Barpeta Road area in Lower Assam’s Barpeta district.
The police have registered a case on an FIR lodged by a resident Khagen Das in whose house the victim stayed as domestic help and was pursuing studies in a local school.