Syed Farid Khan, a 35-year-old second hand car dealer, had allegedly raped the victim on February 23. Syed Farid Khan, a 35-year-old second hand car dealer, had allegedly raped the victim on February 23.

An alleged rapist, suspected to be an illegal Bangladeshi migrant, was beaten to death on Thursday after being pulled out of a jail by a mob at Dimapur in Nagaland.

Syed Farid Khan, a 35-year-old second hand car dealer, had allegedly raped the victim several times on February 23 and was arrested the following day following a complaint lodged by the victim. The police resorted to blank firing and fired tear gas shells but failed to control the situation, officials said.

At least 10 vehicles were also set ablaze by the unruly mob forcing the authorities to clamp curfew in Dimapur district.

"A mob of around 4,000 people stormed the central jail after breaking the two gates and took the accused out of jail and paraded him naked to the city tower in the heart of Dimapur town, before we could rescue him from the mob," district police chief Meren Jamir told IANS.

He said Khan died after he was badly thrashed by the mob. "The body was retrieved from the mob after police fired in the air to disperse them," Jamir added.

"We have clamped curfew in Dimapur district to contain the law and order situation following the unfortunate incident," district magistrate Wezope Kenye told IANS.

He said the district authorities had made all efforts to prevent the mob from storming the central jail. "We resorted to firing blanks and tear gas shells to disperse the mob but they managed to pull out Khan from the jail," Kenye said.

"The situation is tense and we are making all efforts to restore normalcy in the district," he added. Many people were injured when police fired to disperse the mob.

The irate mob also lobbed stones at police, set afire several police vehicles besides destroying public property.

"The problem started on Thursday morning when people in huge numbers gathered at the Clock Tower to demand exemplary punishment to Farid Khan," said a Dimapur district administration official.

The district administration had imposed curfew in the town on Wednesday after a group of people took out a protest rally against the rape.

However, that failed to deter the people from marching to the central jail.

The incident has created panic among the people, particularly among the trader community, as the protesters demanded the administration to cancel trade licenses of all non-local businessmen in the town.