On Sunday, May 14, Kerala police arrested eight people in connection with the lynching of a migrant worker in Kizhissery. The deceased victim has been identified as Rajesh Manjhi, a 36-year-old native of the east Champaran district of Bihar. The migrant worker was lynched by a mob on Saturday over the allegations of theft.
Reportedly, the matter pertains to the Kondutty Police Station precinct in Mallapuram. The accused persons captured Manjhi from a house along the Kizhissery-Thavanur road on Saturday at around 1:00 am. The police learned about the incident at 3:25 am.
When the police arrived at the crime spot they found the victim lying on the wayside in a severely injured state. Police took Manjhi to a local hospital early in the morning. However, he was declared dead and his body was later transferred to the Government Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode. The post-mortem examination revealed multiple wounds on the body of the deceased, exposing the mob attack.
Providing details of the mob attack on Rajesh Manjhi, Mallapuram District Police Chief Sujit Das stated that the victim’s hands were tied and he was brutally assaulted with sticks and plastic pipes.
“The accused bound and assaulted the victim with sticks and plastic pipes.” We have gathered evidence, including pictures, from the accused’s phones. “They attempted to destroy evidence, including CCTV footage,” Malappuram district police chief Sujit Das said.
Manjhi had only recently arrived in Kondotty, according to Kondotty ASP B V Vijaya Bharath Reddy. “The people detained claim that the migrant worker fell from the house’s first floor after a failed theft attempt.” They apprehended and attacked the boy for over an hour after he fell from the building (home).
According to ASP Reddy, the police verified the house owner’s claim that the migrant worker fell from the building during a break-in attempt. ASP Reddy added that the family of the deceased migrant worker has been informed about his death.
The victim, identified as Rajesh Manji, worked at a chicken farm in Kizhissery, Kerala. Later, the police arrested 9 men in connection with his murder. The individuals apprehended consisted of three siblings: Mohammed Afsal, Fasil, and Sharafuddin. Additionally, those taken into custody were Mehaboob, Abdussamad, Nasar, Habeeb, Ayoob, and Zainul Abid. It is noteworthy that all of them hailed from Kizhissery.
In 2018, Ubaid took a selfie before the Kerala lynching: Details of the horrific case
It is pertinent to recall that in February 2018, a similar incident was reported wherein a poor tribal youth named Madhu was brutally lynched by a mob in Kerala’s Attapady over the suspicion of theft of food items.
What was perhaps most distressing was pictures that emerged later showing a man brazenly taking a selfie right before lynching Madhu to death. As demands for his arrest grew louder, netizens found a Facebook profile of a man named Ubaid whose page was filled with people condemning him for the act.
The police then arrested the selfie man, Mukkali Thodiyil Ubaid Ummar (25) and named him the fifth accused in the case.
Ubaid was booked under various sections of the IPC including Prevention of Atrocities against Scheduled Tribes and IT acts for circulating pictures and videos of the lynching.
At that time, allegations had also emerged that Ubaid was the personal staff member of the Muslim League politician and member of the Kerala Legislative Assembly, N. Samsudheen. The MLA, however, had distanced himself from Ubaid and asserted that Ubaid only ‘participated in the election campaign’.
