Two arrested in lynching in Jharkhand

Two persons were today arrested on the charge of spreading rumours of child lifting on whatsapp and fake articles on social media and which led to the lynching of seven persons in two separate incidents in Seraikela-Kharswan and East Singhbhum district earlier this month.
One more accused, Sushil Agarwal, a resident of Jadugora in East Singhbhum district, who is away from the city has confessed to the police over phone that he had forwarded a message to his whatsapp group in the name of 'Zilla Press Group News' after editing a Facebook post of a person Saurav Kumar, said senior superintendent of police Anoop T Mathew.

The same message was forwarded in 40 whatsapp groups run by another person Binod Kesri in the name of 'News Raftar Kolhan'.
Kesri has been detained and is being interrogated.
The whatsapp message was circulated by yet another per person Shankar Gupta which created fear psychosis among the villagers. The rumor had spread in the rural pockets of the two districts rapidly after the messages were posted on whatsapp and social media on May 11, a day after two persons were lynched at Jadugora for alleged child lifting.
Kumar and Gupta were the two to be arrested today.

No case has been registered with the police in connection with any child lifting, he said adding both the arrested were being interrogated.

The messages were detected by the technical cell of the district police and the two were arrested.
A case was registed under sections of the IPC and the IT Act against the two arrested and their mobile phones were seized.
After the May 18 lynchings, 13 were arrested for the incident at Nagdih, where three were beaten to death. In the post lynching violence 40 were arrested.