Man lynched for allegedly stealing vehicles; 5 arrested

A 26-year-old man has allegedly been lynched in Manipur's Imphal West district on the suspicion of stealing vehicles, a senior police officer said on Saturday.

Five people, including a havildar attached to the India Reserve Battalion (IRB), have been arrested. A purported video of the assault went viral on social media.

"Two associates of the victim managed to escape the scene. A hunt is on to find those involved in the lynching," Imphal West Superintendent of Police Jogeshwar Haobijam told PTI.

The Imphal Free Press (IFP) reported that the accused were charged under Sections 117, 302 and 34 of the IPC, and were remanded to police custody for four days by a city court.

They have been identified as Ksh Naoba Singh (23), Ch Ibomcha Singh (35), Ch Subaschandra Singh (45), Phamdom Shamu Singh (51) and M Girani Singh (59).

“Altogether, 13 people involved in the incident have been identified. We will soon arrest the remaining individuals,” Haobijam to the IFP.

The IRB havildar is the owner of the vehicle and the victim had allegedly tried to steal that from his garage, the SP said.

The suspected car-lifter was assaulted at Thouroijam Awang Leikai area on Thursday. The accused succumbed to injuries on the way to hospital after a police team came to the spot and took control of the situation.

The mob also set afire a car suspecting that it was used by the associates of the lynched man.

The SP said the Cyber Crime Unit of the police was also trying to track down those who uploaded images and videos of the assault.

The Manipur Human Rights Commission took up the case suo motu and directed the state director general of police to probe the matter and submit a report by September 22.

Locals of Thouroijam village gheraoed the Patsoi police station on Friday, demanding release of those arrested.

The mob also attacked the police, following which they baton charged and fired teargas shells to disperse the crowd, police sources said.

(Inputs from Imphal Free Press were added to this story)