Uttar Pradesh: 3 held as theft suspects tonsured, paraded in Lucknow

LUCKNOW: In their eagerness to deliver ‘instant justice’, a group of villagers in Barauli village under SGPGI police station area, tied three theft suspects by ropes, tonsured their heads, blackened their faces and garlanded them with slippers and shoes before paraded them in the village.Police only got a whiff of the incident when a video of the incident went viral on social media platforms. Later, the police reached the spot and took the three suspects in their custody.. The suspects were identified as Dilip, Hansraj and Rakesh, from Barauli village under PGI police station area. The trio also disclosed the name of their aide as Upvan, who is still on the run.Police said that one Nitin Dixit, from the same village, on Thursday morning spotted Dilip carrying his cooler after dismantling it. Dixit instantly locked the door of the room and then raised an alarm after which other villagers also assembled at the spot.In the meanwhile, villagers opened the door of the room and surrounded Dilip, who also revealed names of his two aides- Hansraj and Rakesh. The other two were also nabbed by the villagers.Later, the trio were thrashed with sticks by the villagers and then were tied to a tree outside the room.“At first, their heads were partially tonsured, then shoe polish was smeared on their faces, while their sandals and shoes were garlanded around their necks,” said, SHO, SGPGI, KK Mishra. However, a police team reached the spot and released the trio and later arrested them for theft on the complaint of Dixit.“My cooler was installed at the window of the room which is at the entry gate. I found it missing when I woke up and came out of the house only to see Dilip carrying it and caught him red-handed. He later disclosed names of his aides Hansraj and Rakesh and we nabbed them too. Two days back, they had also stolen my mobile phone from the room,” Dixit stated in his FIR.“The police will register a case for the misbehaviour that Nitin and his colleagues displayed against the suspects,” he said.Villagers also said that the gang was active for the past many months and used to steal coolers, mobile phones and even bicycles.