Bus driver, mistaken for thief and beaten, dies

A 32-year-old bus driver, mistaken to be a thief and thrashed by a group of people in Maharashtra's Palghar district, has succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Gujarat, police said on Tuesday.

Six people have been booked in connection with the incident, Palghar police spokesperson Hemant Katkar said.

The victim, Ranjit Pandey, was standing near a bus in Boisar area on August21 when some people there suspected that he intended to steal the vehicle's battery and deflate its tyres, he said.

They then caught hold of Pandey and thrashed him severely, he said.

The victim, who was badly injured, was rushed to a local hospital. He was later shifted to a hospital in neighbouring Valsad district of Gujarat where he died on Sunday, he said.

The Boisar police on Monday booked six people - Anwar Garagewalla, his brother Mintu, two accomplices and two friends of the latter - under Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (murder), 143, 149 (unlawful assembly) and 147 (rioting).

No arrest has been made so far, he added.

Several incidents of mob fury have come to light from various places across the county in recent times.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday termed lynching as an "inhuman" act and called for stern action against perpetrators of such crimes.