By IANS
Patna : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has ordered a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probe into the lynching of 10 alleged thieves by a mob of about 5,000 people in Vaishali district.
The CID probe begins Friday, Home Secretary Afzal Amanullah said. Additional Director General Yashwant Malhotra has been asked to camp in Vaishali along with a police team and forensic experts to begin investigations into the horrific deaths.
“Malhotra has been asked to file a charge sheet in the case within four days,” Amanullah said.
Inspector General (administration) Anil Sinha will also begin an inquiry into the administration lapses and mishandling of the situation that led to the incident.
According to police, an estimated mob of over 5,000 people beat 10 men to death with bamboo sticks, iron rods and bricks early Thursday in Dhelpurwa village near Hajipur in Vaishali district, about 40 km from here.
Police managed to rescue one man, who is battling for his life after being admitted to the Patna Medical College and Hospital in a critical condition.
The villagers justified their act by claiming that the group of 11 were burglars who had been giving them sleepless nights for the last few months.
Expressing his concern over the incident, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar appealed to the people of the state not to take the law into their own hands.
In the past month, there have been at least half a dozen incidents of alleged petty criminals being beaten severely by angry mobs.
On Monday, three youths were brutally beaten and one person’s eye was gouged out by a mob of about 400 villagers in Nawada district for allegedly snatching a motorcycle. A case has been registered against the villagers for taking the law into their own hands, police said.
On the same day in the district, two boys were beaten and tonsured by a mob for allegedly stealing detergent powder from the storage shed of a shopkeeper.
Last month, an alleged chain snatcher was brutally beaten by a mob and dragged by the police tied to a motorcycle in Bhagalpur district – an incident that shocked the nation.