Local people lynched a 45-year-old man on suspicion he was a child-lifter at Sukhani Basti under the Nagrakata police station in Jalpaiguri district, while two others were seriously injured in similar incidents elsewhere in Alipurduar district today.

It is learnt that the deceased was a vagabond and used to beg on the streets in the area. People started thrashing him up on suspicion of being a child lifter, while some local youths joined in and hit him with stones, killing him on the railway tracks nearby.

Police from Nagrakata recovered the body and sent it to the Jalpaiguri district hospital for post-mortem.

“Though the victim was yet to be identified, local sources claimed that he once lived at the Hamiltonganj area under the Kalchini block in Alipurduar district,” a source said. In two other separate incidents in Alipurduar district today, a man identified as Sashi Sarkar was severely beaten up by local people at the Badal Nagar area near the Alipurduar Junction for being a child lifter. Police, however, reached the spot and rescued the man and admitted him in hospital, it is learnt.

A similar incident was reported in the Purba Bholardabri village under the Alipurduar police station.

“An outsider with a child aged about eight years was roaming around the village when they were caught by villagers early morning,” the source said.

Police rescued the victim and the child and took them to hospital for treatment, it is learnt.

In yet another incident, local people beat up a man black and blue at at Dalgaon rail station under the Birpara police station in Alipurduar district today.

“In all the incidents in the district, we rescued the victims and took them to hospitals. All of them are in good physical condition now. We are investigating the incidents,” said Alipurduar SP Nagendranath Tripathy.

“No case of any child missing has been recorded in Alipurduar. However, the panic among the people persists. We had launched awareness campaigns, and as a result, some people came forward to stop the mob from killing the men, and we were able to rescue them,” Mr Tripathy added.