The Delhi Police on Thursday rescued four Tanzanians and two Nigerians after they were allegedly assaulted by groups of residents in southwest Delhi’s Dwarka sub-city and its neighbouring localities in separate incidents over rumours of child abduction, ANI reported.

A statement from the Delhi Police said the six were rescued in time and not physically assaulted. They were brought to the police station to ensure their safety and none of them suffered injuries.

In a video of one of the instances, a group of more than 100 residents in Kakrola village can be seen accusing two Tanzanian women of having abducted a minor boy and eating him. Some residents in the group can be heard calling for an attack.

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An unidentified police official said the Police Control Room received five calls between 6.57 pm and 7.38 pm about a quarrel in Kakrola, under the Dwarka North Police Station. Security personnel found a crowd of 200 to 250 people gathered outside a house, where four Africans, including two women, were living on rent. The police dispersed the crowd and rescued the four.

The police received a sixth call after 7.30 pm in which a woman claimed that a Nigerian had kidnapped her 16-year-old son. But it turned out to be a hoax call as no one from her family had been abducted.

In a separate incident, the police rescued two more Tanzanian women from Old Palam Road in Dwarka after a mob surrounded them.

No case has been registered so far, the Hindustan Times reported.

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Last year, four Nigerian students were attacked by a group of residents in Greater Noida’s Pari Chowk area. The locals were demanding that all Africans living in residential colonies in Greater Noida be asked to vacate their rented houses after a Class 12 student died of a suspected drug overdose. Five Nigerian students living in the neighbourhood were booked for murder.

In another incident two days later, a group had assaulted a Kenyan woman travelling in an autorickshaw in Greater Noida.