Two men were lynched allegedly by a group of enraged villagers on suspicion of cattle theft in Jharkhand’s Godda district, police said on Wednesday.
Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Santal Paragana) Akhilesh Kumar Jha said five people had allegedly stolen buffaloes from the house of Munshi Murmu and others in the tribal-dominated Dullu village on Tuesday night.
Finding the buffaloes missing, Murmu and other villagers gave a chase to the five people, who were caught in adjoining Bankati village with the cattle early on Wednesday.
The villagers thrashed Sirabuddin Ansari, 35, and Murtaza Ansari, 30, to death. The three others managed to flee, Mr. Jha said.
Four persons, including Murmu, have been arrested.
The victims were residents of Taljhari in the district, about 200 km from Ranchi, Superintendent of Police Rajeev Ranjan Singh said.
Adequate police force, along with a magistrate, had been deployed in the village, Mr. Jha said.
The SP, who rushed to the spot, said that according to the villagers, the five people had stolen 13 buffaloes.
After lynching the duo, the villagers brought the bodies back to Dullu village on bicycles, the SP said.
Mr. Singh said the stolen cattle had been recovered.
