Varanasi: A Special Operations Group (SOG) team of the district police came under attack from a mob during a raid in Khalispur village on Monday night, when it went to arrest the accused in the businessman lynching case in Ghamahapur.
Acting on inputs that some accused were hiding in Khalispur village, a joint team of the SOG and Phulpur police raided the area. When the team reached the spot, a mob of around 50-60 locals gathered, obstructed the police, misbehaved with them and hindered government work.
Of the 15 lynching accused, the team has so far managed to arrest Manoj Prajapati (40), Harishchandra Rajbhar (60), Yogendra Prajapati (25) and Abhishek Prajapati alias Buddhu (41). More teams have been formed to nab the remaining accused in the lynching case.
DCP (Gomati Zone) Neetu Kadian on Tuesday said that an FIR has been lodged against 60 people for attacking policemen and hindering government work. No arrest has been made in the Monday night violence.
Background of the lynching
A 36-year-old businessman, Manish Singh, was lynched by a mob after his car hit a woman washing utensils along the road in the Phulpur area of Varanasi. The incident occurred when Singh was returning home from his factory. The car went out of control while passing through the Ghamhapur village road and hit the woman. She suffered injuries. Manish came out of his car to check on her.
Soon, local villagers and the woman's family members surrounded Manish and started assaulting him with sticks and bricks. Manish suffered critical injuries and was left to die, said police. On getting information, Manish's family members rushed to the spot and took him to BHU trauma centre where he was declared dead.
On the complaint by Manish's uncle, police lodged an FIR against eight identified and seven unidentified persons.
