NEW DELHI, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Five people were lynched in India's western state of Maharashtra on suspicion of being child kidnapers, police said Monday.
The lynchings took place on Sunday in a tribal village of Dhule district, about 323 km north of Mumbai, the capital city of Maharashtra.
"The victims arrived in Rainpada village on Sunday in view of the weekly market. After coming down from the passenger bus one of the men started talking to a girl child there, following which people became suspicious," a police official said. "No sooner the word went across a huge crowd gathered and thrashed the five men and hacked them with stones and brickbats."
According to police officials, three policemen who tried to intervene were thrashed by the mob.
"Police took the injured persons to the gram panchayat (village committee) office, more villagers gathered there lynched the five."
Police said they have detained 23 people in connection with the Sunday's lynching.
"Twenty-three people have been detained," senior police official M Ramkumar told media. "We have also identified some more accused in this case and formed five teams to identify the accused."
The deceased were identified as tribesmen belonging to nomadic community from Solapur district.
Locals said rumors about a gang of child kidnappers active in the area had been doing the rounds for the last few days.
Videos aired by television news channels show people capturing the lynching on their mobile phone.
Reports said in a separate incident police in adjacent Nasik district rescued five people from a house who were kept hostage on suspicion of child theft.
Concerned over the deaths a junior minister in local government, Deepak Kesarkar has appealed to people not to believe in rumors being circulated on social media.
Last month two persons were killed by a mob in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra on the suspicion of being robbers.
This year social media-fuelled hysteria about gangs out on the streets to kidnap children has claimed many lives in several states across India.
At least eight people were lynched in June in different states of India over the rumors of child kidnapping.
Analysts said mob justice seems to highlight the deteriorating law and order in India and points at the inefficiency of police force in the country.
