Mob kills techie on suspicion of being child lifter in Karnataka

In a series of horrifying mob attacks around the country a 32-year-old Google YouTube software engineer Mohammad Azam a father of 2 yr. old was beaten to death by a mob allegedly over the rumour of kidnapping at Bidar in Karnataka on Friday evening. Three others have been seriously injured.

Five people from Hyderabad – Mohammad Azam, Salman, Mohammad Salam, Basheer and Noor Mohammad had gone out for a drive. On their way back they stopped on the roadside, where one of them, a Qatar national, offered chocolates to children around, said the police.

“Cousins were visiting us. They had gone out for a drive after lunch. My brother gave chocolates to children. We don’t know what their parents thought but several villagers gathered and beat them. How can they think they were kidnappers?” said Mohammad Azam’s brother Akram.

Also Read: Bhopal: Held captive by a jilted lover, mobs seek justice for a woman by thrashing

Residents of a nearby village, Murki, on spotting the man handing out chocolates to the child, shoot a video of him and sent it on a WhatsApp group “Burkhi brother”. Soon a large crowd gathered and attacked the four men, who immediately got into their car and drove away said the police.

The speeding car hit a biker and the car fell into a ditch. The crowd caught up and set upon the men again. They were dragged out of the car and brutally beaten up, said witnesses. Hundreds of villagers gathered but none came to their rescue. By the time the police arrived, Mohammad Azam had died. The others were taken to Yashoda hospital in Hyderabad.

Among the 32 people are arrested for the killing, one is the administrator of the WhatsApp group.

Akram appealed to the government to stop mob killings. “My brother was a software engineer, father of a 2-year-old. He was just a regular guy,” said