Karnataka: In a shocking incident, a google techie was beaten to death while four of his friends–one of them a Qatar national — were seriously injured in attack by mob over child lifting rumours at Bidar area in Karnataka.
Sources said, the incident occurred while the five friends had gone for a ride and stopped in a village. Later, the Qatar national was seen distributing chocolates to some local children. This raised suspicion, leading to the lynching.
The other four – cousins and friends of Azam — were badly injured. One of them is fighting for his life at a local hospital.
By now, the police have arrested 32 people, reports said. Among the 32 arrested for the killing, one is the administrator of the WhatsApp group. There were also women among those arrested.
The techie, Mohammad Azam, had gone for a drive with four others when they stopped at the roadside. Azam’s friend, Mohammad Salam from Qatar spotted some children playing on the roadside and distributed chocolates to them.
However, this did not go well with the locals who assumed them to be child lifters.
Soon, a large crowd gathered and started an argument. Panicking, the five friends got into their car and drove away. However, some of the villagers chased them on motorcycles. Some way off, the speeding car hit one of the motorcycles and fell into a culvert.
As the crowd caught up, the men were dragged out of the car and brutally beaten up, said eye witnesses. Hundreds of villagers gathered but none came to their rescue. By the time the police arrived, Mohammad Azam had died. The others were taken to the hospital in Hyderabad.
“They had gone out for a drive. My brother gave chocolates to children. We don’t know what their parents thought but several villagers gathered and beat them. How can they think they were kidnappers?” said Mohammad Azam’s brother Akram. Appealing to the government to stop mob killings, Akram said, “My brother was a software engineer, father of a 2-year-old. He was just a regular guy”.
More than 20 people have been killed across India over fake WhatsApp rumours, reports said.
Agencies