Maharashtra Crime: Bus driver, mistaken for thief beaten to death

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A 32-year-old bus driver was mistaken to be a thief and was thrashed by a group of people in Palghar. Later, he succumbed to his injuries at a hospital in Gujarat, police informed on Tuesday.

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, Palghar police spokesperson Hemant Katkar told PTI.

They then caught hold of Pandey and thrashed him severely, he said. The victim, who was badly injured, was rushed to a local hospital and was later shifted to a hospital in Valsad in the state of Gujarat where he died on Sunday, Katkar added.

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The Boisar police 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) on Monday.

Katkar further said that no arrest has been made in this case, so far. Several incidents of mob fury are said to have been reported from various places across the county in past few months. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday called lynching an "inhuman" act and urged for stern action against perpetrators of such crimes.

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