Daijiworld Media Network – Bidar (DC)
Bidar, Jul 15: Over 32 people have been arrested in connection with lynching of a 32-year-old software engineer and four others over WhatsApp-driven rumours of child kidnapping in Bidar.
It may be recalled that on Saturday, July 14, Mohammad Azam, who was working with Google, had gone for a drive with four others. They were stopped by people whom saw one of Azam's friends Mohammed Salam distributing chocolates to children.
The residents of the area soon gathered in the area and involved in a verbal spat with men in car. Panicking, the men got into their car and drove away. They were chased by the resident on motorcycles and on the way the speeding car hit one of the motorcycles and fell into a culvert.
Mohammad Azam
The men were dragged out of the car and were brutally beaten up, with none of the onlookers coming to their rescue. Azam died before police reached the spot and the other four - cousins and friends of Azam were badly injured. One of them is fighting for his life at a local hospital.
Mohammad Azam's brother Akram, said, "They had gone out for a drive. My brother gave chocolates to children. We do not know what their parents thought but several villagers gathered and beat them. How can they think they were kidnappers? My brother was a software engineer, father of a 2-year-old. He was just a regular guy."
Rumours of child lifting were doing the rounds in the area and seeing the chocolates being handed out, residents of a nearby village, Murki, sent messages on a WhatsApp group.
The sources said that among the 32 arrested including women for lynching, one is the administrator of the WhatsApp group.