A 65-year-old woman was allegedly lynched in Athirmoor village in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvannamalai district as a mob mistook her for a child trafficker on Wednesday. Four others who were with her were also injured in the attack.
The incident took place when Rukmani, who hailed from Chennai, and her relatives were on their way to a temple. Superintendent of Police R Ponni told The News Minute that Rukmani and her relatives had stopped their car to ask an old lady for directions. “When they stopped to ask for directions, they gave chocolates to two children playing near the road,” said Ponni. “The old lady, on seeing this, alerted the villagers that they were child traffickers. Within no time, hundreds of villagers gathered and started questioning the group.”
Soon, the mob attacked them with sticks. “Senior officers from Tiruvannamalai arrived at the scene almost immediately,” said Ponni. “However, we couldn’t stop the lynching as there were too many of them. We have received the videos using which we have traced the culprits. We will be remanding 23 people for this incident.” She added that there has been no complaint of child trafficking from the district, reported The New Indian Express.
While Rukmani died on spot, her relatives and the driver were taken to the government hospital at Tiruvannamalai. They have been shifted to the Vellore Medical College Hospital at Adukkamparai.
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