At around 10pm, as he was returning to his friend's place, a group of six students of the same university attacked him from behind.

Vadodara: A 20-year-old dalit man was kidnapped and thrashed by the members of minority community in Godhra on Tuesday night.

Akshay Chauhan, a resident of Baharpura area in Godhra was kidnapped by about 15 Muslim community members when he went in Phoolsaiyad Society to meet a girl he was in relationship with.

The police said that they have identified four of the accused but no arrests have been made yet.

The incident occurred when Akshay was sitting on the terrace of the girl's house. "Chauhan said that some Muslim boys came at the girl's house on motorbikes. They began shouting at Akshay and asked him to come down. The girl's family members too were present in the house but the accused broke open the door and came in," said Godhra police inspector, N V Patel.

The accused then began abusing Akshay and made disparaging remarks about his caste, the police said. "They were angry with Chauhan as he kept visiting their area and spent time with the girl. The group thrashed Chauhan and then dragged him out of the girl's house. He was beaten up again and then the accused took him to a field near by, where they thrashed him again," Patel told TOI.

Chauhan told police that the assailants thrashed him with belts and sticks. The police said that some of the accused took out a sword and attacked him. He sustained injuries on his face and back but managed to flee from the spot and reached his house. Chauhan has also registered a case of loot against the accused for taking away Rs 3,000 and a mobile phone from him.

"He was sent to Godhra civil hospital and then admitted to SSG Hospital for further treatment. We have also registered a case under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocity) Act as the complainant is a Dalit," Patel added.

