Agartala, Jul 4 (IANS): Police on Sunday recovered the mutilated body of a 19-year-old youth who was missing since the lynching of three youths two weeks ago in western Tripura's Khowai district.

Police said that based on the confessional statement of the third detainee Dinu Kumar Debbarma, an auto rickshaw driver, the disfigured body of Salim Mia, 19, was recovered from Asaram Kobra Para under Kalyanpur police station late on Saturday.

Besides Debbarma, two other accused were so far arrested in connection with the lynching of four suspected cattle lifters. The police said that three suspected cattle lifters were hacked to death by a mob in western Tripura's Khowai district on June 20 and Salim Mia was missing since the incident in the tribal areas.

Khowai district Superintendent of police Kiran Kumar earlier said that the suspected cattle lifters after "stealing five cattle" trying to run away in a car but the villagers at North Maharanipur apprehended them when the vehicle dashed against a coconut tree and then they were severely roughed up.

The slain suspected cattle lifters were identified as Jayed Hossain, 28, Billal Mia, 30, Saiful Islam, 28, and all the three hailed from bordering Sonamura area under Sepehahijala district. Various political parties including the main opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist have condemned the incident.

The 'TIPRA Motha', a newly-floated political party and its chairman and Tripura's royal scion Pradyot Bikram Manikya Deb Barman said that anyone who takes law in his hands should be punished.

"We live in a lawful society and the public murder of the three people irrespective of the alleged crime is unacceptable. If they were guilty it was the responsibility of the police to arrest them not the mob to lynch them," said the supremo of 'TIPRA Motha', the party won the politically significant 30-member autonomous body Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous district council on April 6 election.