RANCHI: The Deoghar district president of the All Jharkhand Students Union (Ajsu) Party and his driver, mistaken to be either Maoists or criminals, were beaten to death by a violent mob in Deoghar district early on Tuesday.

The SUV of the leader, Mukesh Kumar Singh (40), allegedly hit one of the villagers in Nawadih under Jasidih police station around 4 am. Irate villagers torched the vehicle as well.

The leader and his driver, Sonu Kumar (25), tried to escape from the spot, but were forced to halt as the gates of the railway crossing were shut. They tried taking a detour through the fields, but the villagers caught up with them and lynched the duo. Deogahr SP Prabhat Kumar said, "Preliminary reports suggest that the villagers mistook the victims for Maoists or criminals and lynched them."

Villagers of Deoghar have been keeping a night vigil for the past one month to nab thieves and miscreants who reportedly come to rob pilgrims and loot shops during the holy month of Shravana when lakhs of pilgrims come to Deoghar.

Thousands of makeshift shops are erected in Deoghar during the Shravani Mela. Though the Shravani Mela concluded on August 20, devotees are still flocking to the temple town to visit the famous Baidyanath Dham shrine.

Deogahr SP said villagers on night vigil have been able to nab quite a number of thieves in the past one month.

"I can't say how many, but recently they caught two or three thieves while others managed to escape from their clutches," said the SP. There is a spurt in crime in the town during the mela. The accused largely come from Bihar and other states, said a police officer.

Sources in the police department, however, said villagers suspected that either criminals or Maoists were moving in the SUV when it did not stop.

All doubts were laid to rest when the person behind the wheels drove the vehicle at full throttle to escape from the mob. One person was hit when its driver made a frantic bid to escape from the site of accident, said the SP.

A sense of ambiguity clouds the incident with Ajsu Party leaders maintaining that Singh was murdered by the people who did not like his success.

"We are investigating the case. As of now, it is difficult for us to tell what triggered the mob fury," said Deoghar SP Kumar.

The deceased had a criminal history and had been to jail also, claimed police. An FIR has been lodged against unidentified persons. Ajsu general secretary Dev Sharan Bhagat demanded a fair probe into the incident. The party has called a daylong bandh in Santhal Pargana division on Wednesday to protest against the incident.

