Two men were lynched by unidentified people in Assam's Karbi Anglong district on suspicion of being child lifters.
According to the police, Nilotpal Das (29), a sound engineer based in Mumbai, and his friend Abhijeet Nath (30), a businessman, had gone to the picnic spot Kangthilangso in Karbi Anglong on Friday night to capture the sounds of nature.
The duo was stopped by some villagers at Panjuri on their way back, pulled out of the car and thrashed.
A video of the incident has gone viral on social media which shows the duo pleading for their lives and trying to explain that they were Assamese.
As the police reached the spot, the seriously injured duo was rushed to a hospital but died on the way.
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The police have launched a massive search operation to nab the culprits on the basis of the video. No arrests have been made so far, they said.
The district administration authorities are camping in the area and holding talks with the villagers.
Both Das and Nath's parents are on their way to Karbi Anglong from Guwahati where they reside. The bodies will be handed over to them after conducting the post-mortem, police added.
Meanwhile, the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Debabrata Saikia condemned the lynching and called it yet another instance of the state government's "utter failure" to maintain law and order.
Saikia also demanded a judicial enquiry into the incident.
(PTI)
