A man has been beaten to death, while three others were injured after a mob attacked them suspecting them to be child-lifters, near Bidar in Karnataka, police said.
The incident occurred on Friday and the deceased has been identified as Mohammad Azam Usmansab (28) from Hyderabad, media reports quoted them as saying.
According to officials, about 30 persons have been arrested in this connection, including an administrator (admin) of a WhatsApp group that spread rumours about child-lifting gangs and galvanised the mob, besides the person who shot the pictures of the attack and circulated it.
Usmansab, along with his three friends, had come to visit their friend Mohammed Bashir Afroz at Handikera village in Bidar, reported PTI.
While on their way back to Hyderabad they stopped near a hamlet, probably with an intention to take pictures. On noticing some children, they offered some chocolates to them, police said.
Locals mistook them for child-lifters and started attacking them. By then their pictures got circulated on a WhatsApp group, resulting in gathering of more people, they said.
Also, their car was without a number plate, fuelling their suspicion.
Though they managed to escape from the spot, they were caught near Murki village, as the mob had alerted their acquaintances there. The group was beaten with stones and sticks, police were quoted as saying.
Though police reached the spot on receiving information, they were outnumbered, and a couple of police constables were reportedly injured in the melee, the report highlighted.
Police managed to bring the situation under control and shifted them to a hospital, but Usmansab died on the way, it added.