An autorickshaw driver died and two people were hospitalised after a mob of over 200 people in West Delhi’s Mohan Garden beat them up on Saturday for allegedly stealing car batteries. The three were tied to an electric pole, beaten up and paraded, the Hindustan Times reported on Monday.
A person who was part of the mob used the mobile phone of the driver – identified as Avinash Saxena – to call his parents, but they could not stop the crowd from lynching him. “My son kept pleading with us to save him but the mob left us helpless,” Saxena’s mother Kusum Lata told the daily. “Each time my son fainted, they would sprinkle water on his face and then thrash him again. They snatched our mobile phone when we tried calling the police.”
The three men were taken to the hospital but Saxena was declared dead on arrival. The other two – 26-year-old Munni Pal and 24-year-old Suraj Yadav – are in a critical condition.
An unidentified police officer said one person has been arrested, and a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder, intimidation and wrongful restraint has been registered at the Uttam Nagar police station. The police have registered a case of theft against Saxena, Pal and Yadav.
Saxena’s parents have accused the police of negligence, The Times of India reported. They claimed their son was beaten for five hours, and his life could have been saved if the police had responded in time.
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