india

Updated: Feb 15, 2019 23:33 IST

Two persons were allegedly lynched on Friday by an angry mob that suspected them to be robbers as they hung around in their Maruti Alto in Chanangpara village in Meghalaya’s West Garo Hills (WGH) district, police said. A third person in the car, who was also targeted, has survived but is in a critical condition.

The police said the villagers, suspicious because the trio were simply whiling away time, insisted on checking the boot of the car that contained iron rods and daggers. When they opened the boot, the trio fled but the villagers chased them and dragged them out of a house where they tried to hide. They were then allegedly thrashed and assaulted.

The two deceased have been identified as Mokibul Akond of Kalirthan village, WGH district, and Mikseng Marak of Dawagre village in East Garo Hills (EGH) district. The survivor, Bita Rabha, is from Dawagittinggre village, also in EGH district.

A local police team that reached the spot tried to control the mob but was outnumbered.

“Over 3,000 people were already at the spot when our team reached and tried to pacify them. But they wouldn’t listen and kept hitting the suspects. We were only able to rescue them after the mob had left,” WGH superintendent of police MGR Kumar said in Tura, the district headquarters.

Kumar said three days ago, Rs 60,000 had been robbed from a household in the village around 11pm by miscreants who had come in a car. “Some members of the household were injured in the incident. We suspect this was why the villagers were being extra vigilant about strangers, leading to the incident,” he said.

The police said Akond died on the spot while Marak was declared dead at the local hospital. Rabha is said to be in a critical condition and is likely to be shifted to a better health care facility in Assam’s Goalpara district. Akond was earlier booked in a kidnapping case, the police said, adding they were finding out about the antecedents of the others.