Rae Bareli, Aug 29 (IANS): An engineer with a telecom company was thrashed by a mob late on Wednesday in Lalganj area here in Uttar Pradesh on suspicion of being a child lifter. Four of the accused were arrested on Thursday.

Atul Verma, 35, had gone to Govindpura village in Lalganj with an aide in a car to check a mobile tower.

Around 11.30 p.m, 50 villagers surrounded Verma suspecting him to be a child-lifter and thrashed him.

When his aide Arjun and driver Vishal tried to rescue him, they were also thrashed.

Lalganj SHO, K.B. Singh said that Arjun informed UP 100 and a team reached in 10 minutes, but the mob attacked the policemen also.

Police force of two police stations was also called to control the situation after villagers went on a rampage and attacked the policemen as well.

The attackers damaged the engineer's car and fled. Verma and his aides were taken to district hospital and an FIR was registered against 23 persons on charges of attempt to murder, rioting.

Rae Bareli police spokesperson Virendra Sonkar said: "An FIR was registered against eight named persons of the village and 15 unidentified on the charges of attempt to murder, rioting, criminal assault, and criminal intimidation. Efforts are on to nab those named and others."