Mukesh Rathod, the 13-year-old teenage Dalit boy, who was beaten up by villagers from Vithalpur village in Ahmedabad district, was assaulted because he wore mojdis (a type of shoe) and called himself ‘Darbar’ (an upper caste community), police said on Friday.

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A video of Mukesh pleading for help even as upper caste youth kept assaulting him went viral on Thursday. Several activists and politicians, including Jignesh Mewani shared the video on social media demanding action against the accused.

Chaitanya Mandlik, the Superintendent of  Police, Mehsana, came to know of the incident after someone showed him the video. He then asked Deputy SP Manjita Vanzara to take appropriate action.

The police traced down Mukesh and his family on Thursday. Initially, the family was reluctant to lodge a complaint and had even come to a compromise with the village, as most of the locals living there belonged to upper caste communities

 However, an FIR was lodged against the four accused after Dy SP Vanzara assured the family police protection.

"We have assigned around 14 teams to nab the four accused; we believe two of the accused are minors. After the video went viral on social media, the family members have left the village and hiding somewhere. We had gone their house, but the houses were locked. Search regarding the accused is on and soon they will be nabbed, we believe they might be hiding at some of their relative's places," Vanzara told DNA.

The complaint was lodged with Becharaji town in Mehsana on Thursday where the incident took place.