Assam: Man lynched to death for cow theft; 6 held

Guwahati, Aug 13 (IANS) A 40-year-old man has been allegedly beaten to death in Assam's Hojai district on suspicion of stealing cattle, an official said on Sunday, adding six persons have been arrested in this connection.

The incident took place on Saturday midnight at Bamungaon neighbourhood in Lanka in Hojai district. 

The deceased has been identified as Hifzur Rahman. He was a resident of Bamungaon village. 

Local residents submitted that he was caught on Saturday night while trying to steal two buffaloes from a house.

An official at Lanka Police Station said they received a call about the incident at around 2.40 a.m. on Sunday, following which a police team rushed to the Bamungaon region.

Police later found the victim's unconscious body and shifted it to a nearby hospital. 

According to the doctors, he passed away after he was brought to the hospital. 

The police said the body was sent for a post-mortem on Sunday morning.

"Our area has recently witnessed several incidents of cow thefts, so we started keeping watch at night. When he was apprehended on Saturday, some people started beating him in the dark," a local resident said. 

Police said that Hifzur's family members filed a complaint on Sunday. 

Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police in Hojai, Saurabh Gupta refused to comment on the incident, saying he was not aware of the details of the case.

Following Hifzur's death, police visited Bamungaon village again and identified eight persons responsible for the death and arrested six of them. 

The arrested individuals were identified as -- Sanjay Das, Nikhil Das, Tulendra Das, Uttam Chakraborty, Jayanta Chakraborty, and Sandhu Mazumdar.