The incident took place in Amwathokar village as a mob comprising the Mahadalit community members overpowered Sitaram Yadav last night and mercilessly beat him to death following a tiff between them over a petty matter, Superintendent of Police (City) Akhtar Hussain said.
Yadav died on the spot, he said.
Upon being informed by the local people about the incident, a police team rushed to the village this morning to take possession of the body, but the mob refused to hand it over and attacked the cops and pelted stones on them before dragging a chowkidar Kamdev Yadav and lynched him too, Hussain said.
As the law and order situation appeared to get out of control, additional reinforcement was sent to the village and soon after the police lathicharged the mob before firing in the air to disperse them, Hussain said.
The cops took the bodies of the villager and the chowkidar in their custody and sent it for post-mortem, he said.
A case has been lodged against unidentified persons for rioting and murder of a chowkidar and a villager, the SP said.