Two minors among those detained in brutal mob attack case

A man from Kerala was allegedly tied up and beaten to death by locals in Kultali, South 24 Parganas, on suspicion of theft. Police arrested five people and detained two minors after a social media video exposed the incident

Kolkata: At least five people were arrested, and two minors were detained by the police for allegedly beating a man to death in South 24 Parganas district’s Kultali area, the police said on Sunday. According to the police, the man from Kerala was allegedly tied up with a rope and beaten up in Kultali on suspicion of being a thief.

The man died due to the beating. Although the incident took place on June 9, the police came to know about the details of the crime through social media on Saturday.

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An FIR was registered on Saturday, based on which eight people were initially detained. Late Saturday night, five out of eight were arrested, two minors were detained, and one was let go. All will be produced in court later in the day.

According to local sources, the man from Kerala had come to an acquaintance’s house in the Sankijahan area of ​​Kultali for work. He went to a local market on the morning of June 9. Since the roads in the area were unfamiliar to him, he entered another neighbourhood by mistake. According to sources, the man did not know Bengali.

The villagers questioned the unknown man when they saw him roaming around in the area. A section of the locals asked him to show his identity card. Soon after, the matter escalated with some people fearing that he was a thief. After that, he was allegedly tied up with a rope and beaten up.

On receiving the information that a severely injured person was lying on the road, officers of Kultali police station reached the spot. The man was taken to Jaynagar-Kultali Rural Hospital, where the doctors declared him dead. Police then sent the body for autopsy. A source in the police claimed that the cause of death was not clear to them at the time.

After that, the police came across a video of the man being tied up with a rope and beaten up on social media. On detecting that the deceased was the same man who was thrashed by locals on suspicion, the Kultali police filed an FIR and subsequently made the arrests.

The police are investigating all aspects of the incident, and the identity of the deceased is yet to be revealed.