Guwahati: Police had arrested twenty-two people for their alleged involvement in the lynching of a rape accused in Nagaland’s Dimapur town on Sunday.
Officials also said that the government also blocked SMS and MMS services across the state in a move to control the social media, which had seemingly played a role in instigating the mob for the violence.
Notify that an irate mob had broken into the central jail in Dimapur on Thursday, dragged out the rape accused, stripped him naked and paraded him in the streets and finally brutally thrashed him to death.
Senior officials of the Dimapur administration said, “A total of 22 people have been arrested so far for their involvement in the death of rape accused Syed Farid Khan. We are examining video footage and more arrests are likely.”
A 35-year-old second-hand car dealer Syed Farid Khan was accused of raping a 20-year-old Naga woman on 23 and 24 February at different locations.
Police arrested Khan on February 25 and a lower court sent him to judicial custody. On March 5, an irate crowd dragged him out of jail and lynched him.
Curfew has been imposed in the town from 3 pm till midnight. All security measures are being taken. Official said, “We are going to continue with the night curfew till substantial improvement of the situation.”
The Nagaland government asked the telecom department to block SMS and MMS services across the state and it was done immediately.
The restriction will continue till further instructions. Although telephone and internet services continued, the services were erratic.
The Nagaland government had suspended three top officials including the police superintendent, the deputy commissioner and jail superintendent of Dimapur for their failure to handle the situation and ordered a judicial probe into the incident.
Khan’s body was on Sunday buried in his native village Bosla near Badarpur town in Karimganj district amid tight security.
Bureau Report
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