The 48-year-old man and a youth were allegedly tied and beaten up by four to six persons, including a woman of a family, on suspicion of theft at Govindpur service centre at Bokaro thermal city on Wednesday, police said.
The deceased persons, identified as Mubaraq Ansari and Akhtar Ansari, were beaten by six persons including a woman namely Naina Devi after being branded as a thief. Police were informed after another victim fell unconscious due to thrashing by the family members.
Mubaraq Ansari later succumbed to his injuries, said Inspector cum Officer in-Charge Umesh Kumar Thakur.
Sources said that the family members of the victims have denied the charges, saying that the victims were not thieves.
They said that Mubaraq and Akhtar did not enter the house for burglary and must have been roaming in the area when Premchand Mahto and his wife Naina Devi and their two sons namely Kundan Mahto(22) and Nandan Mahto(20) caught them and beat them brutally.
Police have arrested five persons in connection with the case, including a woman while Premchand Mahto and Kundan Mahto, who had alleged that they caught both of them red-handed.
The other three accused have been identified as Naina Devi, Hemlal Mahto and Nandan Mahto all five belonging to Govindpur village within limits of Bokaro thermal, said jointly Additional SP Anjani Anjan. According to locals the accused family members caught the victims and alleged that they were thieves.