Man accused of stripping, killing woman lynched

EAST MIDNAPORE : A man in his late 50s was lynched in East Midnapore's Patashpur on Sunday morning after villagers accused him of stripping a local woman and killing her by forcing her to ingest poison.

Sukhchand Maity was dragged out of his home and beaten with sticks and bamboo poles. Police rescued him from the mob and took him to Egra Super Speciality Hospital, where he died. Maity's body was sent to Contai Sub-Divisional Hospital for an autopsy.

No arrests have been made in either case.

The woman's relatives claimed that she had gone to graze cattle in a field behind her house on Oct 4, when she was abducted by miscreants. The accused allegedly stripped her, forced poison into her mouth and fled.

The woman was found naked and frothing from the mouth. She was taken to a local hospital in critical condition and later transferred to a private nursing home in Tamluk, where she died early on Sunday.

A family member of the victim said Maity was a distant relative who lived nearby. The victim allegedly learnt of his illicit relationship with a neighbouring woman, and was threatened multiple times over this.

ASP (Rural) of Contai, Shubhendra Kumar, said: "According to the written complaint from the deceased woman's family, she was beaten and forced to consume poison after discovering the accused's illicit relationship. However, no allegation of rape has been made. A complaint has also been filed by the family of the accused who died from the beating by the mob. Both are being investigated separately."

Later in the day, the family of the woman refused to accept the body, stating that they were dissatisfied with the results of the postmortem. They plan to move Calcutta High Court on Monday, seeking a second autopsy.