Nuapada: After Cuttack, Ganjam, Nayagarh, Kendrapara, Balasore and Rayagada, mob fury on suspected child-lifters erupted in this region, as locals thrashed a non-Odia youth mistaking him to be a child lifter at Jharahi village Monday evening.
First reports said Mahesh Sahu was loitering around the village. Some locals found his movement suspicious and mistook him to be a child lifter. They beat him up and dumped him outside the village.
Later, Mahesh was seen moving around in Bhela village. There too, he was mistaken to be a child-lifter.
The villagers, instead of assaulting him, took him to the Komana police station. Mahesh told the police that he hailed from Raipur in Chhattisgarh. Primary questioning revealed that he was mentally sick, police said.