Nalanda: A 50-year-old cloth vendor who was brutally assaulted by a mob and had his ears cut off and was branded with an iron rod in Nalanda district last week, died during treatment on Friday night, police said.

According to a report published by The Indian Express, the victim, Mohammad Athar Hussain, a resident of Gagan Diwan village, was undergoing treatment at Pawapuri VIMS hospital after being attacked on December 5 while selling clothes on his bicycle.

He allegedly suffered severe injuries, including fractures and burn wounds. Police said six people have been arrested and two minors detained in connection with the case.

Mohammad Shakib Alam reportedly said, Hussain, who also lived partly with his in-laws in Barui village, was returning home when his bicycle broke down near Bhattapar village under Roh police station, forcing him to look for a puncture shop.

“When he asked a group of people about a puncture repair shop nearby, they asked his name and profession and then assaulted him, cut his ears, beat him with a heated rod,” TIE quoted Shakib as saying.

According to the report, Hussain is quoted as saying, “They tied my hands and feet, locked me in a room, and began to beat me up. They beat me with bricks and rods, breaking my fingers and hand. They even cut my ears and finger ends with pliers,” he claimed, adding that the mob had “stripped him to check his private parts, branding his body with a heated iron rod that peeled his skin off”.

“Someone struck me with a rod, another climbed on my chest and throttled me, causing blood to gush from my mouth. My entire body was raw and peeling from the assault.”

In her complaint filed on December 6, Hussain’s wife Shabnam Parveen named 10 residents of Bhattapar village and said several others were involved. She alleged that her husband was falsely accused of theft, brutally beaten, and tortured. She also claimed that villagers threatened her family when they tried to intervene.

The FIR invokes Sections 190, 191(2) and 191(3) (unlawful assembly and rioting), 126(2), 115(2), 117 and 118 (grievous hurt and use of dangerous means), 109 and 74 (abetment and common intention), and 303(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, with murder charges added after Hussain succumbed to his injuries.

Police also confirmed that a counter-complaint was filed by one of the accused, alleging that Hussain had attempted a burglary. However, officials said both versions are being investigated.

“Gold bangles, mangalsutra, silver girdle, and brass utensils… were stolen from our house,” the complaint claims. “My brother Satyanarayan spotted the thief, and villagers caught him with some recovered items. Hussain struck Satyanarayan with a rod during capture, injuring him,” police said.

According to a police source, an emergency 112 call led Roh police to the village at around 2.30 am to rescue the severely injured Hussain. He and the suspects were then taken to the police station.

Hussain was first taken to PHC Roh, then referred to Nawada Sadar Hospital and finally Pawapuri VIMS, where he died. A post-mortem has been conducted.

Nawada Superintendent of Police Abhinav Dhiman allegedly said a special team has arrested eight people so far and efforts are on to trace the remaining accused.

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Hyderabad (PTI): A 26-year-old woman software professional from Bihar allegedly died by suicide at her residence here due to "harassment" by her husband for additional dowry, police said on Thursday.

The woman was found hanging from the ceiling fan in the hall of the flat on Wednesday by her husband.

On receiving information about the incident, the police reached the spot and conducted inquiry.

Based on the complaint filed by the woman's family members, a case was registered at Miyapur Police Station and her husband was taken into custody.

According to a police official, the deceased woman, a native of Bihar, befriended a man from Madhya Pradesh through on a social media platform in 2020, and since the last five years they were in a live-in relationship.

In February this year, they got married in Patna in the presence of their family members. After marriage, the couple were staying in an apartment in Miyapur here.

However, recently some differences cropped up between the couple as her husband was allegedly mentally harassing her for additional dowry, the official said.

Further, the woman's husband, who set up a start-up company, was also harassing her family members to invest in his firm, police said.

Unable to bear the harassment, she died by suicide, the official said, based on preliminary investigation.

The accused has been apprehended and further investigation is underway, police added.