Four persons, including a telecom engineer, were allegedly thrashed by locals on the suspicion of being child-lifters in different incidents in this district of Uttar Pradesh, police said on Friday.
Amar Kumar Verma (35), an engineer working in a private telecom company, was allegedly attacked by a mob of around 50 people when he was returning from Kesarua village within the Lalganj Kotwali police station limits after checking a mobile tower on Wednesday, they added.
A case was registered on a complaint from Verma and some villagers were arrested.
The residents of Madauli village under the Khairo police station area allegedly assaulted an elderly man from Bihar, suspecting him to be a child-lifter, on Wednesday morning, police said.
A police team rushed to the spot, rescued the man and took him to a community health centre, from where he was referred to the district hospital.
In another case, people caught hold of a woman, who they claimed was dragging a 10-year-old girl, in the Gorahi locality within the Salon police station limits, police said, adding that she was being interrogated.
In Majharganj Majre Bahai village under Lalganj Kotwali, a young man, who had got down from his SUV after it developed a snag, was targeted by the locals, suspecting him to be a child-lifter, police said.
The villagers hurled stones at the man, who somehow managed to convince them of his innocence, they added.
The Uttar Pradesh police has taken a serious note of the increase in the number of cases of mob violence over rumours of child-lifting in different parts of the state.
Director General of Police OP Singh has said the stringent National Security Act (NSA) will be invoked against those spreading rumours.
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