MP: OBC man beaten up in Guna; FIR against eight persons

A man belonging to the Other Backward Class (OBC) community was severely beaten by a group of people in Madhya Pradesh's Guna town after he was allegedly caught stealing pesticide from a market, police said on Sunday.

The incident took place on Thursday, two days after a Dalit couple consumed pesticide and the husband was beaten by police while being evicted from a government land here.

A video of the Thursday's incident, which has gone viral on social media in Guna, purportedly showed a bleeding man being beaten and then dragged with a towel tied around his neck while he lay on the ground.

The police claimed the man was "a thief and a drug addict" and cases in this connection were registered against him in neighbouring Ashoknagar district.

The man, aged around 25, was arrested and sent to jail on Friday for allegedly stealing pesticide a day before that under Kotwali police station limits, Guna Superintendent of Police Rajesh Kumar told PTI over the phone.

He is a member of an OBC community, the official said.

"On his complaint, we registered an FIR against eight unidentified people on Thursday. We are identifying the people seen in the video to take action against them for beating the man," he said.

"At that time, we did not know the man was wanted in a case by police in Ashoknagar district, from where he hails," Kumar said.

Asked about the man's background, the official said he was "a thief and a drug addict".

He has six criminal cases pertaining to theft, burglary and narcotics registered against him in Ashoknagar district, Kumar said.

In one of the cases, an arrest warrant has been issued against him, the official said.

All these cases had been registered by the Kotwali police in Ashoknagar.

On Tuesday, a Dalit couple allegedly consumed a pesticide while a drive was underway to evict them from a government land. A video of the incident showed some police personnel purportedly beating up the husband with batons, prompting a huge outrage.

The state government had transferred Inspector General (Gwalior range), Guna collector and superintendent of police following the incident while six police personnel were suspended.