Man lynched by anti-drug body members; scribe attacked during violence
Imphal: One person, claimed to be a drug peddler, was allegedly beaten to death by members of an anti- drug trafficking body in Manipur's Imphal East district, following which a mob ransacked the organisation's office and the residence of its president, police said Saturday.
A journalist was also assaulted when he, along with other scribes, went to cover the mob violence.
Members of the Anti-Drug Joint Committee had picked up Mohammad Helim from his house on late Thursday night claiming that he was a drug peddler, police said.
They allegedly assaulted him during 'interrogation' leading to his death, the police said.
When the news of Helim's death spread, people of his locality rushed to Kairang area and ransacked the Committee's office and the residence of its president, Mohammad Ajimuddin, on Friday.
Ajimuddin, however, managed to flee. Police had to lob tear gas shells to bring the situation under control.
A group of journalists went to cover the violence and one of them, W Bikram Meitei, was attacked by the mob, and an official was injured while trying to protect him, police said.
Police said eight persons were arrested in connection with the mob violence.
In a statement, All Manipur Working Journalist Union (AMWJU) said Meitei, crime reporter of Echelon Express, was attacked with iron rod and bamboo sticks.
The AMWJU thanked Sub-divisional Police Officer L Sangkarjit and the police personnel of Imphal East district for saving the life of the reporter.
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Four booked for tying 18-year-old to tree, beating him up in UP's Pratapgarh
Pratapgarh (UP) (PTI): Four people were booked here for the abduction and assault of a man who they allegedly tied to a tree and beat up, police said on Wednesday.
The incident, a video of which has gone viral, took place on Tuesday afternoon under the Kunda police station limits.
The FIR was registered on Wednesday evening based on a complaint from the victim's father.
According to Keshav Prasad Yadav, a resident of Mauli village, some people called his 18-year-old son Nikhil Yadav on the phone and asked him to come out of his house around 2.30 pm on Tuesday.
As he reached outside the village as instructed, the accused allegedly forced him into a car and took him towards the Tinpedwa forest area, where they tied him to a tree and assaulted, the complainant said.
The attackers also recorded a video of the incident and circulated it on social media. The purported video shows the men thrashing Nikhil one after another, while one of them is assumed to have recorded the act.
Kunda Station House Officer Manoj Pandey confirmed the incident and said efforts are underway to identify and arrest all the accused.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has shared the video on social media, describing the incident as reflective of a "dominant mindset" against the PDA (Pichda or Backward, Dalit, and Alpasankhyak or Minority), and demanded strict action against the accused.
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