Indian police said Monday they have arrested 23 people after five men were bludgeoned to death by a crazed mob in yet another horrific lynching to rock the country. Local media estimate more than 25 people have been killed in recent months in similar cases sparked by false rumours spread on smartphones of child kidnapping or allegations of thievery or sexual harassment.
The latest incident saw eight men set upon in Dhule district, 330 kilometres (205 miles) from India's financial capital Mumbai in the western state of Maharashtra on Sunday.
Police said the attack began after locals spotted one of the eight talking to a child after they disembarked from a bus near the village of Rainpada.
"They were confronted by the locals who had gathered at the Sunday market after suspecting them to be child kidnappers," Dhule police chief M Ramkumar told AFP.