Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal said the police have, for the first time, invoked the provision of ‘mob lynching’ under Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita in the murder of an unidentified man by a group of people at a press conference on Tuesday, April 29, in Mangaluru.
| Photo Credit: H S MANJUNATH

Mangaluru police invoked the Bharatiya Nyaya Samhita provision on ‘mob lynching’ against 19 men who allegedly assaulted a man resulting in his death at Kudupu under Mangaluru Rural police limits on April 27.

“Of the 19, 15 have been secured. The process of sending them to judicial custody was underway,” said City Police Commissioner Anupam Agrawal on April 29. T. Sachin, 26, an autorickshaw driver and resident of Kudupu, is believed to have initiated the assault, the Commissioner told reporters.

While a case was registered against 19 persons, police suspect at least 25 persons were involved in the assault.

Though the police registered a case of unnatural death under suspicious circumstances on April 27, they converted it into a case of ‘mob lynching’ after the autopsy report confirmed that the death was due to internal injuries caused by multiple strong blows, shock and non-availability of immediate medical attention. The victim, aged between 35 and 40, had gone to the venue of a local cricket match near Bhatra Kallurti temple in Kudupu. A scuffle broke out and led to him being assaulted by a group of men, the Commissioner said.

Mr. Agrawal said that the police are trying to ascertain the identity of the victim. Some say the victim was from north India while others say he was from Kerala, he said.

The Congress, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Democratic Youth Federation of India claim that the victim was assaulted for uttering certain slogans.

The FIR was registered on a complaint by Deepak Kumar, resident of Kulashekara, under Sections 103(2), 115(2), 189(2), 190, 191(1), 191(3) and 240 BNS.

Mr. Agrawal said several teams were formed to talk to witnesses and identify suspects, to collect and analyse CCTV footage from the vicinity, as well as mobile tower dump data.

Other than Sachin, the accused who were secured by the police are Devadas, 50, Manjunath, 32, Saideep, 29, Nitesh Kumar, 33, Dheekshith Kumar, 32, Sandeep, 23, Vivian Alvares, 41, Sridatta, 32, Rahul, 23, Pradeep Kumar, 35, Manish Shetty, 21, Dhanush, 31, Dheekshith, 27 and Kishore Kumar, 37.