Date:12/09/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/09/12/stories/2007091262601600.htm

National

Mob blinds three youths

NAWADA (BIHAR): In a chilling reminder of the infamous Bhagalpur blindings of 1980s, a mob on Tuesday gouged out the eyes of three young men who snatched away a motorcycle in Nawada district.

The three youths aged about 17-18 were caught by the mob near Sirdala, about 40 km from here, after they had snatched a motorcycle at gunpoint from a man, Saket Kumar.

Mr. Kumar offered no resistance to the pistol-toting threesome but used his mobile phone to inform a relative whose village was a little distance away on the way the snatchers took.

A mob was waiting for the three and they were dragged off the stolen motorcycle as soon as they appeared, punched and kicked before their eyes were pierced and gouged out with a sharp tool, Sirdala police station officer in-charge Manoj Kumar told PTI.

A police team rescued the youths even as the mob was intent on lynching them, he said.

Mr. Kumar said that an officer of Buniyadganj police station in neighbouring Gaya district confirmed that the three, identified as Pintu Singh, Guddu Singh and Saket, had criminal antecedents. — PTI