Lynched By The Mob Or Murdered In Cold Blood?
Lucknow (India):
A youth was lynched by a mob in the dead of the intervening night between Saturday and Sunday when he was trying to steal from a house. What house? A dingy room owned by a tea-stall owner, a physically-challenged person. He stays there with his wife, an 80-year-old mother and four children.
The man who came to steal was in an inebriated condition and is yet to be identified. Who lynched him? A mob, but nobody knows what mob, not even the police, who gave the word ‘lynch’ to the Press. There is no witness.Even by Sherlock Holmes standards, this is not elementary. What adds another dimension to the mystery is the fact that none of the ‘angry locals’, who caught the thief and beat him to death, thought it necessary to report the incident to the police.
The body was spotted by the ward councillor, out on a morning stroll.The preliminary police investigations revealed that the youth had made an unsuccessful bid to commit a theft at the house of the tea stall owner, Sheo Kumar. But, he was caught by neighbours and subsequently lynched. However, the evidence (or the lack of it) makes the story incredible.Sheo Kumar, his wife and his two sons— Vipin (14) and Vinay are being interrogated. SHO (Aliganj) K P Singh says, ‘‘They have been called to the police station for interrogation. We suspect foul play and thus, thorough investigation is needed to solve the mystery behind the incident.”
A visit to the site of crime lends credence to the theory of ‘foul play’. Sheo Kumar runs his tea stall in a hut. Adjacent to it, he has built a pucca room for residential purpose. The neighbourhood comprises of some small shops, some of the owners reside in the shops.However, most of them have an alibi ready. ‘‘The incident occurred on Saturday night. My clinic remains closed on Sunday. So, I heard about it on Monday morning,” said Dr Aman Kumar, who runs a homoeo clinic near Sheo Kumar’s hut. Another shopkeeper, Umair Ahmad said, ‘‘Miscreants had attempted to commit burglary at Sheo Kumar’s house in the past also. I opened my shop on Sunday morning. Then I heard about the incident.”
The SHO said, ‘‘Few labourers stay near the shops in the night. We are trying to identify them to collect more information.” When contacted, ward councillor Suresh Chandra Awasthi said, ‘‘I went for a stroll on Sunday morning and saw the body lying near the Vindhyachal Temple.
I immediately informed the police. It was 7.30 am.”Singh said it was the responsibility of Sheo Kumar and his family members to inform the police. ‘‘The incident took place in the wee hours of Sunday. Yet no one bothered to inform us that the youth had been lynched.” He added that the deceased was in an inebriated condition. ‘‘Though this would be confirmed only after the autopsy report. Right now, we are trying to ascertain his identity,” he said.
Sept 20, 2005
Newindpress
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEP20050920020326&Topic=0&Title=Nation&Page=P
Lucknow (India):
A youth was lynched by a mob in the dead of the intervening night between Saturday and Sunday when he was trying to steal from a house. What house? A dingy room owned by a tea-stall owner, a physically-challenged person. He stays there with his wife, an 80-year-old mother and four children.
The man who came to steal was in an inebriated condition and is yet to be identified. Who lynched him? A mob, but nobody knows what mob, not even the police, who gave the word ‘lynch’ to the Press. There is no witness.Even by Sherlock Holmes standards, this is not elementary. What adds another dimension to the mystery is the fact that none of the ‘angry locals’, who caught the thief and beat him to death, thought it necessary to report the incident to the police.
The body was spotted by the ward councillor, out on a morning stroll.The preliminary police investigations revealed that the youth had made an unsuccessful bid to commit a theft at the house of the tea stall owner, Sheo Kumar. But, he was caught by neighbours and subsequently lynched. However, the evidence (or the lack of it) makes the story incredible.Sheo Kumar, his wife and his two sons— Vipin (14) and Vinay are being interrogated. SHO (Aliganj) K P Singh says, ‘‘They have been called to the police station for interrogation. We suspect foul play and thus, thorough investigation is needed to solve the mystery behind the incident.”
A visit to the site of crime lends credence to the theory of ‘foul play’. Sheo Kumar runs his tea stall in a hut. Adjacent to it, he has built a pucca room for residential purpose. The neighbourhood comprises of some small shops, some of the owners reside in the shops.However, most of them have an alibi ready. ‘‘The incident occurred on Saturday night. My clinic remains closed on Sunday. So, I heard about it on Monday morning,” said Dr Aman Kumar, who runs a homoeo clinic near Sheo Kumar’s hut. Another shopkeeper, Umair Ahmad said, ‘‘Miscreants had attempted to commit burglary at Sheo Kumar’s house in the past also. I opened my shop on Sunday morning. Then I heard about the incident.”
The SHO said, ‘‘Few labourers stay near the shops in the night. We are trying to identify them to collect more information.” When contacted, ward councillor Suresh Chandra Awasthi said, ‘‘I went for a stroll on Sunday morning and saw the body lying near the Vindhyachal Temple.
I immediately informed the police. It was 7.30 am.”Singh said it was the responsibility of Sheo Kumar and his family members to inform the police. ‘‘The incident took place in the wee hours of Sunday. Yet no one bothered to inform us that the youth had been lynched.” He added that the deceased was in an inebriated condition. ‘‘Though this would be confirmed only after the autopsy report. Right now, we are trying to ascertain his identity,” he said.
Sept 20, 2005
Newindpress
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEP20050920020326&Topic=0&Title=Nation&Page=P
