A group of women tied a 46-year-old rape accused to a tree and beat him to death in Tripura’s Dhalai district on Wednesday, police said.
The incident took place in Gandacherra police station area.
The deceased, who had completed eight years of rigorous imprisonment in a murder case, allegedly took a five-year-old girl, who had come to a religious programme with her mother on Tuesday night, to a nearby jungle and raped her, leaving the girl at the spot, a police officer said. Hearing the girl’s cries, locals rescued her and admitted her to a nearby hospital.
They alleged that the girl was last seen with the murder convict and accused him of the crime. They blockaded the Gandacherra-Amarpur highway demanding his arrest, he said.
However, a group of women nabbed him from a nearby village on Wednesday morning and tied him to a tree. A video, that has gone viral on social media, shows women beating the accused mercilessly, following which he lost consciousness.
The accused was rescued and admitted to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. An investigation is underway in both incidents, he added.