28-year-old lynched on suspicion of theft

In yet another case of apathy of city dwellers, nobody came forward to help a 28-year-old man who was lynched by a mob in north-west Delhi's Swaroop Nagar area late on Sunday night. The crowd suspected him of stealing from a shop.

The injured victim, identified as Shankar, was later dumped in fields. Four people have been arrested in this connection.

"A passerby informed us at 7.15 am on Monday about a man lying unconscious in the open fields behind the Vijay Chowk area. He had severe injuries on his face. He was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival. A case of murder has been registered," Deputy Commissioner of Police (north-west) Milind Dumbre said.

According to the police, Shankar was unemployed and unmarried. The accused claimed that they saw Shankar picking up something from an open shop late on Sunday night. They then started hitting him.

"The accused restrained Shankar in a tractor-trolley and beat him mercilessly. Some locals have told us that they even tried to change his clothes before dumping him on a motorcycle," an officer privy to the investigation said.

"We are verifying the claims and more sections will be added, if the allegations are found to be true," the officer added.

Shankar was dumped using a motorcycle, barely 500 m from the spot where he was thrashed.