New Delhi: Six African nationals were hounded and attacked by an irate mob on Thursday night by at least 200-250 locals on suspicion of them having kidnapped a child and being cannibals. Among those were assaulted were four women from Tanzania while the other two were natives of Nigeria.

As per reports, the four women were harassed by large crowd of people outside their residence in Hari Vihar on a rumour that they had kidnapped a boy. Several phone calls were made to the police control room including one by a woman claiming that her child was abducted by Nigerians in the locality.

The policemen upon reaching the spot tried to pacify the incensed crowd who pressurized them to arrest the foreign nationals immediately. The Tanzanian women had to be rescued and taken into safe custody by the investigating cops to prevent further attacks.

The police in their investigation also went searching for the Nigerians in the nearby locality.  The Nigerians in their statement said they were sleeping in their house, when a group of people came there and locked their room from outside. The Tanzanian women were identified as Assifa & Riziki, Fatima and Esta Joshva. The Nigerians are named Nwaogu, 38, & Ogbuewu, 34.  Nwaogu does not possess an Indian visa, hence will be deported accordingly, said a police official.

No credible proof

Reports say none of the locals had any information or evidence of the Africans being involved in the alleged kidnapping. No one from the family of the alleged kidnapped child showed up at the police station which indicated that the call made to the PCR was a hoax call. The Africans were manhandled merely on basis of suspicion and rumours. The angry mob also resorted to vandalism in the vicinity during the melee.

There have been such assaults on Africans in the Delhi-NCR region in the past as well. In April 2017, enraged locals in Greater Noida thrashed several Africans following the death of a 17-year-old boy of a suspected drug overdose last month. Residents blamed the Africans of being engaged in drug peddling in the locality. Condemning the attack, the Heads of African Mission said it were “racist” and xenophobic” in nature.