india

Updated: Aug 01, 2019 16:21 IST

A 40-year-old thief was beaten to death by villagers after they caught him fleeing following a burglary in Dumka district of Jharkhand early on Thursday, police said.

Dumka’s superintendent of police (SP) YS Ramesh said the incident occurred around 1.30am on Thursday in Chihutiya village under Jarmundi police station, around 280km away from the state capital of Ranchi.

The dead man was identified as Bhola Rajwar, a resident of nearby Loharia village under Taljhari police station of the district.

Rajwar was one of the three men who had burgled the house of Anandlal Marandi and were leaving with the stolen items when the villagers caught them. They beat up Rajwar, who died on spot, and the other two men managed to flee.

“Fifteen villagers have been taken into custody and are being interrogated. Proper action would be taken after the investigation and interrogation reports,” Ramesh, who reached the village and began an investigation into the incident, said.

Rajwar had already succumbed to his injury, police said, when a team of Jarmundi led by DSP Animesh Nethani reached the village early on Thursday. Rajwar’s body has been sent for a postmortem examination.

“Bhola Rajwar was a notorious dacoit and had been in jail several times in past,” Ramesh said.

Police are also looking for the other two men, who managed to escape after committing the crime, he added.