Vadodara: Three individuals with a criminal history of theft were beaten by a crowd near Warsia Jhulelal Mandir in the city on the suspicion that they were there to commit theft. While one of the youths absconded from the scene, two others were seriously injured in the beating, one of whom succumbed to his injuries at SSG Hospital.

Addressing the media, DCP Pannaben Momaya said, “Yesterday, three people—Akram Ali Imran Tiliawala, Shahezbaj Khan Pathan, and Sahil Sheikh—left Ektnagar on a stolen bike and came to Fatehpura. After having tea and parking the stolen bike near Jhulelal Temple, they started walking when some people questioned them on suspicion of being thieves. Then a group of people started beating them. Of these three individuals, Sahil Sheikh ran away, while Shahezbaj Pathan and Ali Imran were beaten, with Shahezbaj losing his life.”

Providing details about the criminal history of the three individuals, the senior police official said, “All three have previously been booked under PASA. There have been ten crimes related to theft registered against Shahezbaj, and he was booked under PASA in February. Akram Ali has been booked in seven crimes, and Vadodara police booked him under PASA in February. The third accused is Sahil Sheikh, who was booked under PASA in June. All three individuals had come to this area with the motive of theft, and the crowd caught and thrashed them. All three are locals.”

“We found weapons related to theft in their bags, and the bike they came on was also stolen. We have filed a case of mob lynching against the public, and the investigation is ongoing. Currently, the primary probe and the postmortem of the deceased are underway; after that, we will examine the CCTV footage and begin apprehending the individuals involved in the case.”

“The beating did not take place in front of the police. When the police reached the scene to stop the beating, three policemen, including a PSI, were also injured in the ruckus. The police took them to SSG Hospital. The instruments used to break locks have been recovered from the accused involved in the theft.” DeshGujarat