A young Muslim man accused of theft has died in India after a mob forced him to recite Hindu religious chants while beating him 'mercilessly' for hours.

Tabrez Ansari, 22, died in police custody on Saturday, four days after his ordeal at the hands of villagers from Dhatkidih in eastern Jharkand state, who accused him of breaking into a home with two other men and stealing a motorcycle.

The other two suspects reportedly escaped, but locals caught Ansari and forced him to chant 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Jai Hanuman' - 'Hail Lord Rama' and 'Hail Hanuman.'

A man beats Tabrez Ansari, 22, after villagers Dhatkidih in India's Jharkand state seized hin for allegedly stealing a motorcycle

Video of the incident on Tuesday June 18 shows Ansari tied to a tree, begging for mercy.

'Let us assume he was caught for theft, but tying him up and beating him for hours and then asking him to chant Jai Shri Ram is shocking,' Ansari's uncle Maqsood Alam told Indian Express.

'His mistake was that he was a Muslim, otherwise he would have been alive.'

On Sunday a local man, Pappu Mandal, was arrested after Ansari's widow Shaista Parveen made a complaint against him and nine others.

The couple had only married in April. 'Ansari's parents are dead. Now he too is dead. What will she do,' one of Parveen's relatives said.

Social worker Aurangzeb Ansari said the dead man had been working in the western city of Pune as a welder, and had only returned home to the district to obtain new identity documents before the newlyweds settled down there.

Tabrez Ansari, 22, sits tied to a tree after being captured an beaten for hours by villagers in Dhatkidih

Villagers finally handed him over to police on Wednesday morning, telling them he had and injured himself by jumping from the roof of Kamal Mahto's house, who the men were allegedly burgling on Monday night.

Officers at Saraikela police station said Ansari did not accuse the mob of assaulting him when he was in custody, and only learned of it when his family showed them videos.

Ansari was rushed to Sadar Hospital and then to Tata Main Hospital in Jamshedpur on Saturday after he complained of feeling unwell.

But he was declared dead on arrival at the second hospital.

Anothe rvideo syill shows Tabrez Ansari, 22, cluching his chest as a man beats him in revenge for allegedly stealing a motorcycle

Alam said he was called to Sadar hospital where an ECG test showed he still had a pulse, but died as he was beiung tranferred to the second hospital - an assertion medics deny, saying he was already dead when he reached the first hospital.

Doctors said a post-mortem examination would be needed to determine the cause of Ansari's death, but speculated that a 'heart attack or blockage' may have been respoinsible.

Deputy Commissioner Chaavi Ranjan said he had ordered an inquest.

'On reaching there, our officer said he was breathing and was being taken to another hospital…We have ordered an inquiry and will find out lapses, if any, on part of the police or doctors.'



'All perpetrators will be booked and justice will prevail,' Ranjan insidted, adding that officers should have acted sooner.

At the weekend the US State Department issued a report critical of sectarian mob violence against India's Muslim minority.

'Mob attacks by violent extremist groups against minority communities, especially Muslims, continued throughout the year amid rumours that the victims had traded or killed cows for beef,' it said.

It claimed authorities 'often protected perpetrators from prosecution' and that incidents 'included allegations of involvement by law enforcement personnel.'