Chengalpet: Burglary suspect lynched to death in mob justice

Chennai: An unidentified man who attempted to break into a house in a village near Chengalpet, 40 km from the city, was allegedly lynched by villagers on Wednesday night. Police sources said that the incident happened in Kandhaloor, a village under the foothills of a mountain near Chengalpet off GST road.

Most of the occupants of the village are casual labourers. On Wednesday, around 11 30 pm, a man had attempted to break into a locked house there. The house belonged to Babu (40). Babu was undergoing treatment for tuberculosis at the Government Hospital in Tambaram Sanatorium and his wife was staying, police said.

Hearing a noise, other villagers gathered and caught the robber red-handed. In a bid to escape from the villagers, the man had taken to his heels when he fell into an open drain there. He was then treated to mob justice. A passer-by who witnessed the commotion informed the police, after which Chengalpet taluk police rushed to the scene. Police secured the seriously injured thief and moved him to the government hospital where he was declared brought dead.

“We are yet to ascertain the identity of the man. Preliminary investigations have suggested that he had come to rob from one of the houses.

He had suffered injuries on the back of his head, which we suspect to be from the fall in the open drain,” a police officer said.

Chengalpet taluk police has registered a case under section 174 CrPC (suspicious death) and are investigating. Police said that they would await the results of the autopsy to ascertain the exact reason for the death and alter sections if necessary.

This is the second instance of a robbery suspect treated to mob justice in Kancheepuram district in the past six months.

Four months ago, on October 4, 2017, an unidentified man who broke into the farmhouse of a retired central government official near Sri Perumbudur, 50 km from the city, died after he was beaten up by the caretakers of the house and the local villagers.