A 24-year-old youth was allegedly tied up and lynched on the suspicion of being a thief in Saki Naka on Monday morning. The police have arrested three people in connection with the crime and one more is wanted.
The incident occurred at a construction site in Mohili village of Chandivali. According to the police, the four accused are construction workers, who have been staying at the site since the lockdown.
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“Early on Monday, the four woke up to find the victim, later identified as Satish Rajbhar (24), entering a tin shed at the construction site. They pounced on him and tied him up with a rope, accusing him of being a thief. Then they began to beat him up with plastic pipes and their bare hands,” senior police inspector Kishore Sawant, Saki Naka police station, said.
When they realised Rajbhar was dead, all the four left him and fled the scene. Three of them made their way to Andheri railway station, hoping to catch the first available train to their home towns in Bihar.
However, by this time, some other residents of the area, who had heard the commotion, went over to investigate. They found Rajbhar lying lifeless and called Saki Naka police station. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead before admission.
“We started investigations and found out the details of the accused with the help of local informants. Simultaneously, we sent teams to nearby railway stations and one of our teams picked up the three accused from Andheri,” Mr. Sawant said.
The trio were taken to the police station and, after preliminary inquiries, arrested and charged with murder under the Indian Penal Code. The police are trying to apprehend the fourth accused. Inquires are under way with all his known friends and associates, and railway police stations have also been instructed to keep an eye out for him.
Meanwhile, inquiries in the area have established that Rajbhar, a local resident, was a drug addict. The police suspect that he wandered into the construction site while under the influence of narcotics, and was taken for a thief by the accused.
