An unidentified man was lynched by a mob in Keralam's Palakkad district, with seven people arrested in connection with the killing, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala told the state Assembly. Condemning the incident as "extremely brutal", he said a 10-member SIT had been formed to probe the case.
A group of people had allegedly attacked the man by pelting stones at him and beating him with wooden sticks. (Representative image)
Thiruvananthapuram,Oct 16, 2026 14:06 IST
Keralam Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala on Friday condemned the alleged mob lynching of an unidentified man in Palakkad district and said seven people had been arrested, news agency PTI reported.
A 10-member special investigation team will investigate the killing, while efforts are underway to identify the victim, who was estimated to be between 35 and 40 years old.
Replying to a submission in the state Assembly, Chennithala described the incident as "extremely brutal and condemnable". He said such cruelty could not be accepted in a progressive state like Keralam, which had achieved complete literacy and implemented progressive legislation.
Chennithala assured the House that no one involved in the crime would be spared. He said he had directed the Additional Director General of Police, Intelligence, to seek the help of his Tamil Nadu counterpart in identifying the victim as the incident occurred in a village bordering the neighbouring state.
Calling the killing inhuman and heinous, the minister said the victim's body bore around 52 injuries, according to PTI. "How can we justify a group of people joining together to commit such an inhuman and heinous murder?" he asked.
The incident came to light after residents found the man's body near the Moolathara dam, close to Meenakshipuram, on Sunday morning. Police initially registered a case of unnatural death.
However, an examination of CCTV footage and fresh evidence revealed that a group of people had allegedly attacked the man by pelting stones at him and beating him with wooden sticks, Chennithala said. Murder and other charges were subsequently invoked against the accused.
According to the minister, the victim had allegedly exposed himself in front of some local women, prompting the accused to attack him. However, he said law-enforcement agencies and courts were there to deal with such matters and no one could be allowed to take the law into their own hands by attacking and killing a person.
Police had earlier said that a post-mortem examination at Thrissur Medical College Hospital revealed signs of murder. The man had reportedly been roaming around the village in the Keralam-Tamil Nadu border region for some time, but his identity remained unknown.
The alleged attack took place on Saturday and is the third alleged mob lynching reported in Palakkad in recent years.
Chennithala recalled the 2018 lynching of Madhu, a 27-year-old tribal youth from Chindakki Ooru in Attappadi, describing it as a grim reminder of mob violence. Madhu was allegedly beaten to death by a mob after being accused of stealing rice and other grocery items from a shop.
In another incident in December 2025, five people were arrested for allegedly beating a man from Chhattisgarh to death on suspicion of theft within the limits of Walayar police station.
Seven people have been arrested in the Palakkad case, while the special investigation team will investigate the alleged lynching and the authorities will continue efforts to establish the victim's identity.
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