The police reached the spot in the morning and recovered the body of the deceased.

BHUBANESWAR: In a tragic incident , a woman was beaten to death by a mob in Mayurbhanj district on Saturday morning. They attacked the woman suspecting her a child thief. Police have started probing the matter.

The incident occurred at Domuhani village under Bangiriposi police limits in Mayurbhanj district, 280 km from here.

Police sources said the villagers spotted the woman aged about 42-year-old on Friday night. They inquired her whereabouts and motives to enter the locality. As she was not well-versed with the local language, she failed to make the people understand about her motive.

“When the locals didn’t get any answer from her, they scolded her with abusive language. Some of the people started manhandling her. Fearing any attack from the mob, the woman tried to flee the spot. But the locals caught the woman and thrashed her,” said Baripada Sadar, sub-divisional police officer Abhimanyu Nayak.

He said the villagers suspected her as a child thief and tied her with a tree. In the morning, some elderly people scolded the villagers for tying a woman like a prisoner. They freed her. “The woman trembling with fear tried to run away from the spot. But other villagers chased the woman and again attacked her with wooden plank. Due to the attack, she received grievous injury in her head and leg and died on the spot,” said Nayak.

The police reached the spot in the morning and recovered the body of the deceased. The body was sent for postmortem. “We have started investigation into the matter after registering a murder case. We have arrested four persons and are interrogating a group of people of the village to know the persons involved in the incident,” said the Nayak.

He said identity of the woman is yet to be known. “We will keep the body for 72 hours in the morgue and wait for her relatives to come and identify her,” he added.

