Will take criminal action against rumour-mongers: Police Commissioner;
We are relying on old-fashioned legwork to curtail the spread of electronic messages that have unleashed a wave of mob attacks in the city.In the Chamarajpet incident the police have filed a case against unknown persons who circulated fake graphic videos of a gang of child lifters who killed children. These messages have been spreading on the social messaging platform WhatsApp.Mr.Suneel Kumar said cases would be filed against those who were forwarding these messages, and this would serve as a deterrent.We will find out who sent the messages to the accused in the lynching and will try to trace the message till the origin.In many areas, the police have been countering the online nuisance through offline meetings and announcements through their Hoysala patrolling vehicles.
The Bengaluru Police have arrested around 14 people on Thursday for allegedly lynching a 26-year-old man from Rajasthan at Pension Mohalla in the city’s Chamrajpet area on Wednesday afternoon.
In a horrifying video that has emerged on social media, two men are seen dragging a man through the streets of Chamrajpet in Bengaluru while mercilessly beating him up.
The victim, Kaluram Bin Bachanram, 26, was covered in blood and had his hands tied by a rope. He was dragged on the road, followed by a mob of local residents who are seen beating him with cricket bats and rods.
The incident occurred on Wednesday afternoon when residents of Bakshi Garden in Chamrajpet spotted a stranger interacting with local children. Fearing that the man wanted to kidnap the children the locals confronted him and started beating the man.
As soon as the incident took place a special team was led to identify the culprits and based on the video cops have arrested around 14 people and the accused has been identified as,Gopi (18), Anbu (26), Vasanth Kumar (32), Balan (30), Nanda (20), Thiramalesh (28), Rajesh (18), Anusha (30), Anusha (37), Indira (37), Vani (41) and the two minor boys, aged 14 and 16, have been arrested so far .
Relative of deceased told reporters, that their relative Kaluram was lynched by a mob on suspicion of child kidnapping in Bengaluru is a resident of Nimaz area in Rajasthan’s Pali district. He was the sole bread earner of the family, according to his relatives.The family members were immensely grieved over the loss. They told that he had gone to Pune and then to Bengaluru in search of employment nearly eight months ago.He used to work as marble flooring setter. He had first gone to Pune from where a contractor had taken him to Bengaluru.He even said that Kaluram’s father died after a prolonged illness.Kaluram’s mother was so grieved over her husband’s death she also died a few months later.The elder brother was killed in an accident.Responsibilities of the family fell on Kaluram.His younger brother is studying.Kaluram was stressed because he was unable to find steady employment in Pali.He wanted to support his brother and help him complete his education,so he decided to go to Pune,” said by deceased uncle to media persons.
Bengaluru city police commissioner,T Suneel Kumar held a press conference on Friday, addressing media persons he said,All the messages are fake and no case of any gang that abducts children has been registered in Bengaluru.I would request people to stop sending these videos and messages as this is leading to innocent people being targeted.In all, since the first incident at Chamarajpet, five cases have been filed in the city, while 16 people have been rescued from mobs.We have even received a communication from the Director-Generals of Police in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana where five people were reportedly attacked after the same rumours went viral on social media. The videos being circulated in Karnataka are believed to have originated from there,we would book cases against anyone found to be circulating these messages.In Chamarajpet,the police have detained at least three people and are verifying their role in the lynching, based on the videos of the incident.Over 40 people are believed to have attacked the labourer, Kaluram, and more arrests would be made.Locals know who was involved in the attack, and we will be taking action against anyone found to be harbouring the accused.The rumours have swirled even in Bengaluru Rural, where the police have stepped up their patrols to thwart any possible attack. This tragic incident occurred because of rumours that were being circulated on social media about child abductors in the city.There are no such gangs in the city and people should not heed to such rumours and all the accused has been booked under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly committed in persecution of common object) and section 302 (murder) read with 149, he added .
