The gruesome death of a man has shocked an entire village in Haryana after a mob, allegedly led by the son of a local councillor, barged into his home, dragged him out, beat him up, and dragged him through the streets by his ankle till his face was mutilated beyond recognition, according to several media reports.
The motive for the assault and murder of 26-year-old Virender Singh was not immediately known but police suspected an old tiff between him and Manmeet Singh Waraich, the son of Indian National Lok Dal councillor Gurpreet Kaur Waraich, who allegedly led the mob to Singh's house on Tuesday night.
"We have registered a case against Waraich and others," Anil Dhawan, Panchkula's police chief, told NDTV. The victim's family and relatives picketed the Chandigarh-Panchkula road in protest. Manpreet and his accomplice Dilpreet were arrested, according to NDTV.
Devinder Kaur, the victim's mother, told The Indian Express that the mob barged into her house, fired shots in the air, and when Virender went outside to check what the commotion was about, he was immediately set upon by the mob, stabbed with swords, and dragged into a car.
"My son had just finished his dinner when he heard the gunshots and abuses being hurled outside the house. He and his cousin Kulwinder Singh went outside to see what was happening. They grappled with the mob. I tried to intervene but one of them hit me and abducted my son in one of the cars. Kulwinder also ran behind them but failed to catch them," Devinder told the paper.
There are conflicting accounts of Virender's death. According to Kulwinder, his cousin was thrown out of the moving car and another car, which was right behind, ran him over and proceeded to drag him a few feet. However NDTV reported that two men from the mob had allegedly sat in one of the car's trunk and held Virender by his ankles while he was being dragged through the streets.
His mutilated body was later recovered 500 metres from his house in the middle of the road.
Dhawan said six teams were looking for the other culprits and an effort was being made to recover the weapons.