5 bike thieves lynched in BENGAL/India

[PeteSC]

Five lynched in Barasat

Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, Oct. 2. — Five persons, allegedly members of a local motorcycle theft racket, were lynched by a group of villagers at Barasat in North-24 Parganas today morning.
None of the victims could be identified and police are yet to make any arrests in the case.
According to reports, four men riding two motorcycles and a fifth man pushing a third motorbike, which had a punctured rear tyre, halted near a tea stall at Bahera village in Bamungachi area on Barasat around 3.30 a.m today.
 The tea vendor, suspecting that the five were motorcycles thieves, immediately raised an alarm. Four of the men escaped in two motorbikes, while one of them, who was pushing the third bike, and identified as ‘Mustaq’ by the villagers, could not flee and was caught.
He was reportedly beaten up and threatened with dire consequences, if he did not show the villagers, the way to the gang’s hideout.
 Once there, all the four men were apprehended by the villagers and along with ‘Mustaq’ taken to a local primary school and locked up in a classroom.
 Moments later, armed with bamboo sticks and iron rods, angry villagers returned to the school and reportedly released one person at a time from the classroom and lynched the five.
 All the bodies were dumped inside the primary school premise and the villagers left home around 5.30 a.m. As dawn broke, police learnt about the incident and a huge contingent rushed to the spot. The five bodies were recovered and send for postmortem examination.
Later a case of lynching was registered at Barasat police station. Mr SMH Mirza, sub divisional police officer (Barasat), said that none of the victims could be identified and their faces were smashed almost beyond recognition.
 “No arrests have been made so far in this connection, but our investigation is on,” he said.
The villagers involved in the lynching are also yet to be identified by police. According to police, a few instances of motorbike theft has taken place at Bahera village in the recent past and locals suspected a gang is involved.
“When the five men were apprehended by the villagers today, they must have failed to provide satisfactory answers to the possession of the three motorbikes. This must have infuriated the villagers and the thieves were beaten to death,” said an officer at Barasat police station.
 
   
 

What a heartwarming story!  Not only are the adult villagers looking out for each other,  they're making use of the schools for 'adult education' at night!