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A mob of villagers lynched a young woman in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, late 22 July night, reportedly on suspicion that she was a child-lifter based on messages being shared on WhatsApp.
The woman is believed to be in her mid-twenties, approximately 25 years old, superintendent of police for Singrauli, Riyaz Iqbal told The Times of India. Speaking to PTI, Morwa Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) K S Dwivedi said that the woman also appeared to be “mentally unstable.”
Police confirmed that the woman was killed based on rumours of child-lifters circulating on WhatsApp, the news agency reported.
It’s the rumour that led to her being killed. Based on our primary findings, we think locals suspected that she was a child lifter and started to question her. Then, they beat her to death.Riyaz Iqbal, Superintendent of Police, Singrauli, to The Times of India
According to Dwivedi, some people spotted the woman roaming in the village at around 9.30 pm on 19 July. They stopped her, suspecting her to be a child-lifter and hit her with lathis and axes, before dumping her body, PTI reported.
The woman’s body was reportedly discovered close to Uttar Pradesh border, near a nursery of the forest department near Morwa’s Bhos village.
Police added that 12 people had been arrested in connection with the lynching, with nine persons being booked. The arrested were presented at a local court on Monday, which has sent them to jail, reported PTI.
Police added that they were looking for the others who were involved in the murder.
The lynching came on the same day as reports that a man had been lynching in Rajasthan’s Alwar based on suspicions that he was smuggling cows.
(With inputs from The Times of India and PTI)
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