Three youths suspected of stealing cattle were lynched to death in Khowai district before dawn on Sunday. Two of the victims were tied with ropes before an irate mob thrashed them to death, while the third was caught after a chase and beaten to death.
The youths, residents of three neighbouring villages of Sonamura subdivision in Sepahijala district, were allegedly transporting cattle in a mini-truck when they were intercepted at north Maharanipur in Khowai district. People from nearby villages held Billal Mia (30) and Joyed Hussain (28) while Saiful Islam (18) managed to flee from the scene.
The mob tied Billal and Joyed with ropes and started beating them with bamboo and wooden sticks. They were thrashed to death at the scene.
Another group of villagers who chased Saiful caught him at Mungiakami village and lynched him there. Police teams recovered the youths from both incident spots and shifted them to GBP Hospital in Agartala where they were declared brought dead, senior Khowai district police official Sonacharan Jamatia told mediapersons.
Police said they had seized the mini-truck and five head of cattle.
A few head of cattle were allegedly stolen from Namanjoypara, near north Maharanipur, where the vehicle was intercepted.
Meanwhile, the State’s main Opposition, the Communist Party of India-Marxist has vehemently condemned the mob lynching of three youths and said the incident was a fallout of the “complete lawlessness in the State”. It claimed several lynching incidents had occurred after the installation of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government in Tripura in 2018.
The party’s State Secretariat in a statement demanded the immediate arrest of all perpetrators, a speedy investigation, and adequate compensation to the bereaved families.
The State unit of the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist also condemned the lynching of youths and demanded a judicial commission headed by a sitting judge of the High Court of Tripura probe the incident.
