A 32-year-old man from Odisha’s Khordha district died on Monday after villagers allegedly tied him to an electric pole and beat him on suspicion of theft on Sunday, police said.
This incident comes in less than two weeks after 21 people were arrested for assaulting two NGO workers in Rayagada district.
The deceased identified as Tofan Nayak of Bhimpur village under Banpur police, succumbed to his injuries at Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar on Monday, police said.
According to the police, some villagers suspected him of attempting theft and assaulted him. The CCTV footage of the assault also surfaced on social media.
Police reached the spot after being alerted and rescued him. However, his family alleged that instead of taking him directly to a hospital, police brought him to Banpur police station before handing him over to relatives after obtaining a written undertaking.
Nayak’s condition reportedly worsened overnight. His family first took him to a district government hospital, from where he was referred to Capital Hospital in Bhubaneswar, where he succumbed to his injuries. His family also alleged that Nayak was assaulted inside the police station after being rescued.
His wife, Sasmita Nayak, said she was informed about the assault over phone.
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“They beat him to death. I don’t know whether the villagers beat him or the police did…” she alleged.
His father, Laxman Nahak, claimed his son had gone to pluck coconuts and may not have understood what was happening when he was attacked.
“He was beaten so badly that his head, ears, back, thighs and entire body were covered with injuries. They tied him up and kept beating him. Later the police also assaulted him,” he alleged.
Khordha superintendent of police Smith Parmar, however, denied the allegations.
“There is absolutely no role of the police in this incident. We had even offered the family an opportunity to register an FIR [first information report] if they believed anyone had assaulted him. Even now they are free to file a complaint naming whoever they believe was responsible,” Parmar said.
“As far as the allegations against the police are concerned, they are completely false, fabricated and motivated,” he added.
Police said they took two persons into custody for questioning and more people may be questioned as the investigation progresses.
According to Banapur police station inspector-in-charge Jayprakash Parida, Nayak may have been suffering from mental health issues and behaving unusually, leading villagers to mistake him for a thief.
Police said the exact sequence of events and the motive behind the assault would be established during the investigation.
On June 22, a daily wage labourer from Kerala, Vishnu S, was assaulted by a mob in Sambalpur. On June 16, two NGO workers, including a woman, were attacked by a mob in Rayagada district after rumours spread of them being kidnappers. On May 7, Government Railway Police constable Soumya Ranjan Swain died after he was allegedly tied to a bamboo pole and assaulted by a mob over accusations of misbehaving with two women. On January 14, 35-year-old Sheikh Makandar Mohammad was allegedly lynched in Balasore on suspicion of cow smuggling.
In March this year, chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi told the Odisha assembly that the state recorded seven mob lynching cases between June 2024 and February 2026.
