A youth roaming aimlessly in front of the IIT Kharagpur was caught by some locals on the suspicion of being a mobile phone thief, last night. A local, Ariz Zalish, fearing a mob attack, called for help from two passersby, Shubhadip Roy and Joydip Swarnakar, when people had surrounded the wandering youth. People grew suspicious as the youth speaking in Hindi was giving out confusing identities. “Sometimes he said he hailed from Gujarat and sometimes he claimed he was from Delhi, which led the restive mob to confusion. I apprehended a massacre and sought assistance of the two,” narrated Ariz.

Swarnakar and Roy pressed the panic button and immediately dispatched snapshots of the detained youth to the HAM radio operators of Bengal Radio Club here. Ambarish Nag Biswas, secretary of the Club said, “We ensured a quicker broadcast that resulted in a prompt response from our rural operators.” Shortly, the youth could be identified as Milon Kurmi of Churipatti in Raniganj town. His brother Saroj Kurmi made a SOS call to the Club and narrated that Milon was suffering from psychological ailments and had disappeared mysteriously a few days ago. He was earlier serving as a staff with two companies in Gujarat and Delhi.

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Kharagpur police later rescued Milon and the IC, Kharagpur, Rajib Pal, said, “We didn’t find anything wrong with the youth or his records. He will be handed over to the family tomorrow.”

After a recent surge in such attacks over suspicions of being child lifters or cellphone thieves, the Bengal government has warned people to restrain or face harsh penalties.

Another youth, Partha Lohar of Bidbihar in Kanksa PS area of West Burdwan was rescued by the locals from the village temple premises today. He was tied up by one Mahadeb Bagdi on charges of theft of his cellphone. Earlier, Lohar was arrested by the police on similar charges. The local youths however rescued him and handed him over to the police.

Yesterday afternoon, some youths had rescued a youth named Budhhadeb Pakre at Bonbahal in Andal PS area in West Burdwan. From Dosa village in South 24-Parganas, a middle-aged woman, Taposi Ghosh was rescued by some youths last evening. She’s also detained there on the suspicion of child lifting. The HAM operators later secured her identity as a woman from Paikor village in Birbhum, who suffers from a psychological disorder.

East Burdwan however had a different scene on Monday late evening, where the policemen were attacked while trying to rescue a youth detained at Sumari village within the Shaktigarh PS limits. Four persons, identified as Budhhadeb Gadi, Ashis Gadi, Mithun Majhi and Akash Dhara were arrested on charges of attacking on-duty policemen.