Police said they have identified 12 people who were part of the crowd and 9 were arrested.

Villagers allegedly thrashed a group of seven men on suspicion they were child lifters in adjoining Khargone district of Madhya Pradesh, an official said on Monday.

Nine villagers were arrested on Monday in connection with the incident, in which the victims were injured, and charged them with attempt to murder, he said.

The incident occurred when a group of seven men had gone to Maheshwar from Indore, around 100km from Indore, to celebrate Friendship Day on Sunday, senior police officer Sunil Kumar Pandey told PTI.

When they were returning in the night, they lost the way and their car reached Bhuvan Talai village, he said.

"When these men were inquiring from the villagers about the route to Indore, someone raised an alarm, saying they belonged to a gang of child lifters.

"A crowd of villagers soon gathered there and started thrashing them," he said.

The official said when a police team reached the spot on getting information about the incident, the villagers threw stones at their vehicle.

Later, the injured persons were admitted to Indore's government-run Maharaja Yeshwantrao Hospital, the police officer said.

Police said they have identified 12 people who were part of the crowd and arrested nine of them under sections of the Indian Penal Code.

A search was underway for the other accused, he added.

This was the latest in a series of such incidents reported from Madhya Pradesh and other parts of the country.