Karnataka: Hyderabad techie lynched in Bidar on suspicion of 'child lifter', 2 others injured

The techie was beaten to death, while two others were critically injured by the mob in Bidar district of Karnataka which suspected they were a group of “child lifters”.

A 32-year-old Google techie was beaten to death, while two others were critically injured by the mob in Bidar district of Karnataka which suspected they were a group of “child lifters”. (Representative photo: ANI)

New Delhi: Days after multiple cases of the mob attacking people on suspicion of being child abductors, another horrific incident from Karnataka came to light on Friday. A 32-year-old techie was beaten to death, while two others were critically injured by the mob in Bidar district of Karnataka which suspected they were a group of “child lifters”. The deceased has been identified as Mohammed Azam Ahmed of Hyderabad, who worked with Accenture as a software engineer. Azam was accompanied by two others, among them, one was a Qatari national. They too were attacked by the people and suffered critical injuries. The victims were admitted to the Bidar Government hospital initially before being shifted to Hyderabad, as per the report. According to the report, the victims had set off from Hyderabad Friday morning to meet a relative at Bidar and attend a social function. On their way, they had stopped for tea near a school where they saw some school children heading home. One of them started handing out foreign chocolates to the kids, which he was carrying. However, the kids refused to take and someone raised an alarm that strangers were luring kids with sweets. Sensing danger, people around began to gather immediately and started an argument. Meanwhile, some people even took photographs of them and circulated it on WhatsApp that they were kidnappers and should be stopped. The photos and the messages soon went viral. The crowd dragged the men out of their car and brutally beat them up. Hundreds of villagers gathered but none came to their rescue, as per the report. By the time the police arrived, Mohammad Azam had died. The others were taken to the hospital in Hyderabad. Reacting to the incident, Deputy CM of Karnataka G Parameshwara said, "I am looking into it, there were complaints earlier also from Bidar and Gulbarga district regarding child lifting that's why police is closely looking at it."