Hyderabad: Wild rumours on social media about interstate gangs of child lifters and kidnappers has created such a panic in the two Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh that furious mobs were attacking people who appeared suspicious to them.
Two such incidents in Nizamabad and Yadadri districts of Telangana resulted in lynching of two persons. A woman was seriously injured when a mob attacked her at Repalle railway station in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh last night.
The situation has taken such a grim turn that it forced the police chiefs in both the states to come out with a public warning against believing such rumours or fake forwards on WhatsApp.
Andhra Pradesh director general of police Malakondaiah who visited Repalle Railway station and also spoke to the victim of the mob attack in Guntur government hospital said that the police have already detained some people who were spreading rumours on social media. “Those who indulge in violence on the basis of such rumours will face stringent action,” he said. “An attempt to murder case will be booked against those who attacked the woman last night,” he said.
He warned people against taking the law into their hands. The DGP asked the people to inform the police if they saw any suspicious person, and not attack them.
Meanwhile in Hyderabad, Telangana director general of police Mahender Reddy denied that any interstate gang of kidnappers was on the prowl. “These are baseless rumours being spread through social media. The police is alert and we will take action against those spreading such rumours,” he told the media.
“In both the incidents at Bhimgal in Nizamabad and in Bibinagar in Yadadri districts innocent people were killed,” he said, adding that the police would take action against those responsible for such incidents.
The DGP said police patrolling was being intensified in remote areas and field level officers were asked to identify mentally unbalanced persons and beggars in villages and move them to safer places.
In Jiyapally village of Bibinagar locals beat up an autorickshaw driver to death suspecting him to be a member of a gang of kidnappers. He was identified as N Balakrishna from Korremula village in nearby Ghatkesar and had been visiting his brother’s family in the village.
In a similar incident in Pahadishareef in Hyderabad, one person was beaten up by local people. While the police booked a case against the perpetrators, the victim of the attack escaped.
