A man was lynched in Karnataka’s Mangaluru district after he allegedly shouted pro-Pakistan slogans during a cricket match, The Indian Express reported.
Fifteen persons have been arrested for the killing and over 25 suspects identified, The News Minute quoted Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal as saying on Tuesday. The police have not yet been able to identify the victim.
Agarwal added that a section of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita pertaining to murder on grounds of race, caste and community by five persons or more was invoked.
The incident came to light around 5.30 pm on Sunday after the police were told about an unidentified body found near a temple on the outskirts of Mangaluru. A case of suspicious death was registered initially because there were no visible injuries on the body, Agrawal said.
However, a preliminary autopsy report revealed that the man died of internal bleeding due to blunt force and in absence of timely medical aid, according to The Indian Express.
The police commissioner was quoted as saying by The News Minute that the authorities were told that the man was a labourer from West Bengal or Bihar, some people said that he spoke Malayalam. “He’s aged between 35 and 40 years and is most likely a Muslim,” the official said.
According to preliminary information, the man arrived at the spot around 3.30 pm when a cricket match was underway and got into an argument with a man named Sachin who assaulted him, Agrawal said.
“Sachin’s associates turned up and they too joined in the assault,” The News Minute quoted the police officer as saying. The case was being reinvestigated as murder, he said, adding that it was not yet known whether his religious identity had anything to do with the crime.
Unidentified police officers told The Indian Express that the brawl started after Sachin picked a fight with the man after he allegedly shouted “Pakistan zindabad” slogans.
Arrests were made based on images and videos shared on social media, according to the newspaper.
Speaking about the incident, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara said that he was told that there were reports about the man shouting “Pakistan zindabad” during a local cricket match, after which he was beaten.
“He was taken to a hospital where he died,” The Indian Express quoted Parameshwara as saying. “I am yet to receive the full report.”
The state government had taken the incident seriously, the minister added. “It [mob lynching] should not happen because Karnataka is a peaceful state,” he said. “Even if he had raised ‘Pakistan zindabad’ slogan, they [the accused persons] should have told police.”
