Several thousand people stormed a prison in north-eastern India, where they dragged away a man accused of rape and then lynched him, police have said.

The mob overpowered security at Dimapur central prison in Nagaland on Thursday and seized the suspect, whom they also accused of being an illegal migrant from Bangladesh. They pelted him with stones and beat him to death, said PC Sunep Aier.

Police said a curfew was imposed in the city after the killing and no other incidents of violence had been reported.

The man had been arrested on suspicion of raping a local woman on 24 February.





India has seen an outpouring of anger against sexual violence. But Thursday’s killing was also likely linked to tensions over an influx of migrants from Bangladesh. Dimapur, the largest city in Nagaland, is 1,000 miles east of Delhi.



Several local groups accuse migrants of taking away their land and jobs and have been protesting in recent weeks.



The Indian government remained defiant on Thursday over its ban on a BBC documentary about the 2012 fatal gang-rape of a student in Delhi.



There has been a groundswell of acclaim for India’s Daughter from prominent Indians who watched it online.

But the home minister, Rajnath Singh, has been resolute on the ban, which is supported by nearly all of India’s political establishment.