Two others injured after locals mistake them for kidnappers

Fear triggered by social media posts in the last few days that notorious criminal gangs were on the prowl in the State and subsequent lynching of innocents in a few cases, claimed its third life in Hyderabad on Saturday night.

This time, a transperson was fatally attacked by a mob of over 1,000 people at Chandrayangutta here.

A group of five transgenders had come to the city from Mahabubnagar to seek alms in the holy month of Ramzan near Sunny Garden at Naseeb Nagar. While they were moving in the vicinity after Tarawih prayer around 11.30 p.m., some miscreants raised alarm, saying a gang had come to kidnap children. Locals gathered at the spot and picked up an argument with them and soon after, they started raining blows on the victims. A few of them threw stones at the transpersons and even hit them with sticks.

In the melee, a boulder was thrown on one of the victims resulting in his instantaneous death. Two others would also have met the same fate, but for the intervention of local Corporator and MIM MLA, who warned the mob against taking law into its hands. But the victims suffered grievous injuries and are battling for life at Osmania General Hospital. The deceased was identified as Chandraiah (51) and the injured are Swamy and Narsing, natives of Devarakadra in Mahabubnagar district.

According to police, around 11.35 p.m., a patrolling team was rushed to the spot, after receiving an alert from the control room that a group of transpersons were being attacked by the locals. “We immediately rushed to the spot to control the mob and rescue the victims. However, the enraged men started attacking the police with stones,” said a police officer, adding that it took them more than an hour to disperse the crowd. A police constable suffered minor injuries and a patrolling vehicle was damaged.

About 15 people were arrested by the south zone police after analysing the video footages of surveillance cameras in the areas. Murder and attempt to murder cases were filed against the accused.