Police have arrested 10 men for allegedly beating to death a mentally challenged 27-year-old youth in Singhwar village under Samnapur police station area in Dindori district suspecting him to be a child lifter.
The incident took place at Singwar, 40 kms from the district headquarters, on July 28.
The area is pre-dominantly tribal. On August 1, police learnt that a body was found floating in a well in the village, said Superintendent of Police K Karthikeyan.
The deceased was identified as Mukesh Gond, 27, the resident of Anuppur district, the SP told, adding that the probe revealed that four villagers — Jagdish, Chetram, Sanjay and Gangaram — were drinking on the night of July 28 when they saw Gond wandering aimlessly.
When they called out to him, he hid in a school. The four dragged him out and asked him who he was and where he was from. Gond, who was apparently mentally-challenged, could only tell that he was from Annupur. The accused allegedly started beating him, calling him bachcha chor (child-lifter).
More people gathered and he was beaten with sticks mercilessly, Karthikeyan said. The accused then allegedly tied his hands and feet and threw him into a well. To drown the body, they also tied a stone to it, he said.
Police have arrested ten persons in the case, including Jagdish and his companions.
Earlier, a mentally-ill woman was lynched on suspicion of being a child-lifter in Singrauli district of the state on July 19.
With a spate of such incidents across the country, the Supreme Court last month had asked the Centre to frame a special law to tackle the menace.