Dhenkanal: An angry mob severely thrashed a man over suspicion of being a child lifter at the Mina Bazar district here on Sunday.
Cops rushed to the spot and rescued the victim from the clutches of the angry villagers.
According to sources, the youth was roaming around the village aimlessly. He even failed to say his name, address and the purpose of visit to the village. Villagers began chasing and beating him up soon after some villagers claimed to have seen the young man lifting a child from their village.
He was later rescued by the cops in a critical condition.
This happened at a time when children are going missing in the state. After the mysterious kidnapping and murder of five-year-old girl ‘Pari’ in Nayagarh, another girl child from the district had apparently gone missing from December 12.