Mob in Tripura lynches man spreading awareness against rumour-mongering after accusing him of being child-lifter

Agartala: A man hired by the Tripura Information and Culture department to spread awareness against rumour-mongering was among two persons lynched in different areas of the state on the suspicion of being child-lifters, the police said on Friday. [caption id=“attachment_4343907” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] Sukanta Chakrabarty (33) was lynched by a mob suspecting him of being a child-lifter at Kalachhara in South Tripura district on Thursday night, assistant inspector general of police Smriti Ranjan Das said. Chakrabarty was a member of a team of the state Information and Culture Affairs department which was campaigning against rumour-mongering. He was hired by the department for making appeals to the people not to fall prey to rumour-mongering. Chakrabarty was attacked when the team was returning to Sabroom, Das said. In view of the lynching incidents, Tripura director general of police A K Shukla has suspended SMS and Internet data services in the entire state for the next 24 hours to prevent rumour-mongering. Chief minister Biplab Deb today appealed to the people to maintain peace and said there was no child-lifter in the state. He alleged that it was a conspiracy of the CPI(M) to tarnish the image of the state government. An unidentified woman was lynched and another injured when she along with four men was moving in a vehicle at Bishalgarh in Sipahijala district on Thursday. In a separate incident, a hawker was lynched and two others were injured after a mob attacked them on the suspicion of being child-lifters at Murabari in West Tripura district yesterday. BJP state vice-president Pratima Bhowmik and Education Minister Ratanlal Nath in a joint press conference said they have alerted party workers to thwart any such incident and cooperate with the police.