Triggered by rumours on social media, locals roughed up two men in separate incidents in Manipur, suspecting them of being child-lifters and cannibals, police said on Thursday.
The locals found the duo in a "disoriented state", about 2 km apart, in Saikul area of Kangpokpi district, police said, adding that the social media posts were untrue.
When the victims failed to give a satisfactory reply on being quizzed, they were assaulted. The victims were not carrying any documents to prove their identity, police said.
The duo was rescued and taken into preventive custody by the police. They were later taken to Imphal's Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), where the doctors said that one of the men claimed to be from Assam's Cachar district.
Although no child was missing from the district in the last three months, the locals were swayed by rumours of child-lifting gangs being active in the area and had voluntarily begun surveillance of the neighbourhood.
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