CHENNAI/AGARTALA: Incidents of violence incited by social media rumours about child-lifters on the prowl continued to wreak havoc across the country with Sunday being no exception.

While one person was attacked by a mob in Dhalai district of

on Sunday, two men from

were severely beaten at Teynampet in Chennai on Saturday night.

In the Tripura incident, Kishan Das, a government employee, was attacked by a mob at Manu in Dhalai district and was admitted to

with severe injuries.

“Das was travelling to Dharmanagar by a local train. When it halted at a station, Das got down and missed the train. He then started walking along the tracks towards the next station Manu,” police said.

“With rumours of child-lifters doing the rounds in the area, villagers must have found a stranger walking down the tracks suspicious. They caught him and beat him up,” police said.

Jawans from the Tripura State Rifles posted nearby received information about the attack, rescued Das and took him to hospital.

No arrests have been made so far, police said.

In Chennai, the two men, employed with a construction company engaged in Metro Rail work, were attacked when they tried to stop a minor boy from crossing a busy road and a bystander raised an alarm suspecting them to be child-lifters. A crowd gathered soon, chased the men and beat them up. They were rescued by a police team and rushed to a private hospital. The two men have been identified as Gopal Sahu, 25, and Binoth Vihari, 22.

“Gopal knew the boy’s family and tried to stop the kid from crossing the busy road,” said a police officer.