The Muvattupuzha police are yet to make more arrests in the case in which a migrant worker was allegedly beaten to death in what has since been confirmed as a case of mob lynching.
The police have so far arrested 10 persons, including on charges of murder and rioting. The police who had initially registered a case for unnatural death under Section 174 of the CrPC later altered the sections. Though more persons were suspected to be involved in the case, the police have not yet tracked down more accused.
“The spot where the alleged beating had taken place has no CCTV cameras. While the CCTV images along the road leading up to the spot show the presence of many people, we cannot implicate them merely on that basis without evidence,” said Muvattupuzha police sources.
According to the first information report registered by the police, Alok Das, 32, of Arunachal Pradesh had gone to a house rented by two women, one of whom had worked with him in the past at a local restaurant, on Thursday around 5 p.m. He later emerged out of the house bleeding around 9.30 p.m.
According to the police, however, he turned violent following a drunken brawl, after which he seemed to have smashed something in the house, injuring his hand.
There were also conflicting reports about the assault on the victim, which people in the neighbourhood deny even as they accused the police of turning up late, by which time the victim had lost blood excessively, reportedly leading to his death. The women in the household where the incident had taken place declined to lodge any complaint against the deceased.
The victim’s death was attributed to haemorrhage in the head and injury to lungs, suspected to have been caused by the assault.
