An alleged rapist, suspected to be an illegal Bangladeshi migrant, was dragged out of the high-security central jail in Nagaland's commercial town of Dimapur by an irate mob, paraded naked and then thrashed to death on Thursday, officials said.
At least 10 vehicles were also set ablaze by the unruly mob forcing the authorities to clamp curfew in Dimapur district.
Syed Farid Khan, a 35-year-old second hand car dealer, had allegedly raped a 20-year-old Naga woman on February 23 and 24 at different locations. Police arrested Khan on February 25 and later a lower court sent him to judicial custody.
"A mob of around 4,000 people stormed the central jail after breaking the two gates and took the accused out of jail and paraded him naked to the city tower in the heart of Dimapur town, before we could rescue him from the mob," district police chief Meren Jamir told IANS.
He said Khan died after he was badly thrashed by the mob.
Meanwhile, sources said the accused hailed from Assam's Karimganj district and was involved in other rape cases earlier.
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"The body was retrieved from the mob after police fired in the air to disperse them," Jamir said.
"We have clamped curfew in Dimapur district to contain the law and order situation following the unfortunate incident," district magistrate Wezope Kenye told IANS.
He said the district authorities had made all efforts to prevent the mob from storming the central jail.
"We resorted to firing blanks and tear gas shells to disperse the mob but they managed to pull out Khan from the jail," Kenye said.
"The situation is tense and we are making all efforts to restore normalcy in the district," he added.
Many people were injured when police fired to disperse the mob.
The irate mob also lobbed stones at police, set afire several police vehicles besides destroying public property.
"The problem started today (Thursday) morning when people in huge numbers gathered at the Clock Tower to demand exemplary punishment to Farid Khan," said a Dimapur district administration official.
The district administration had imposed curfew in the town on Wednesday after a group of people took out a protest rally against the rape.
However, that failed to deter the people from marching to the central jail.
Police fired in the air to deter the mob, but the mob tore down the gate, dragged the accused to the tower and beat him up severely, that ultimately led to his death.
Police, who were outnumbered by the ever-swelling mob, again fired blanks to disperse the crowd and also to retrieve the body. This infuriated the mob and they pelted stones and burnt down the vehicles.
The incident has created panic among the people, particularly among the trader community, as the protesters demanded the administration to cancel trade licenses of all non-local businessmen in the town.