WhatsApp Rumour : Mob Kills Software Engineer, Injures 3 Mistaking Them For Child Lifters
Bidar (KARNATAKA): A 32-year old software engineer was beaten to death by angry mob after they mistook him and his three friends for child abductors.
The deceased has been identified as Mohammad Azam. The other three are seriously injured are being treated at the hospital.
The incident took place on Friday evening when four men – Mohammad Azam, Basheer, Salman and Akram went out for a leisure drive. On their way back the group stopped by the roadside, where one among them – a Qatar national – offered chocolates to the children.
Residents of a nearby village, Murki, sent alerts on WahatsApp group saying suspicious looking men were handing out sweets to the children. A crowd quickly reached the site and attacked the men who drove away in their car. Some villagers however trailed them on motorcycles following which the fleeing car lost control and fell into a ditch.
The crowd re-gathered and dragged the men out, beating them brutally to death. The assault continued witnessed by over hundred villagers.
By the time police arrived, Azam was dead. Others were transported to the hospital in Hyderabad.
32 people, including the WhatsAppp group administrator have been arrested by police.
