NEW DELHI, May 14: An irate mob set a multi-utility vehicle on fire and threw its driver into the flames resulting in his death after it had fatally run over a minor girl in Alirajpur district in Madhya Pradesh, a police official said on Saturday.
The pick-up vehicle crushed to death six-year-old Kanji on Friday night at Barjhar crossing, about 38 kilometres from the district headquarters, after which people set the vehicle on fire, officiating Superintendent of Police SP Sakharam Sengar said.
The driver, Magan Singh, 37, was rushed to Dahod hospital in Gujarat where he succumbed to injuries. A video of the incident also went viral on social media in which a mob could be seen beating the driver and then throwing him in the fire.
Alirajpur superintendent of police Manoj Kumar Singh said, “The driver Magan Singh, a resident of Jamali village of Jobat tehsil, was passing from Chhoti Poll village when he accidentally hit an eight-year-old girl, who died on the spot.”
The mob gathered in no time and thrashed him. They also torched his vehicle and threw the driver into the fire, said the SP. The police immediately reached the spot and rushed him to the hospital where he died, he added. The police said a case of rioting, arson and murder had been registered against unidentified people. “A police team is trying to identify the accused with the help of a viral video,” the police said.
(Manas Dasgupta)