NEW DELHI: Indian police said Sunday they have arrested 25 people after a man was killed by a mob in the country’s latest lynching over suspicion of child kidnapping sparked by rumors on WhatsApp.
The men were arrested over the murder of 27-year-old Mohammad Azam who was attacked along with two friends by a 2,000-strong mob in southern Karnataka state’s Bidar district late Friday.
Azam’s friends were critically injured in the assault that came days after the Facebook-owned messaging service published advertisements in Indian newspapers offering tips to curb the spread of fake information on its platform.
More than 20 people have been lynched in India after being accused of child abduction in the last two months, according to media reports.
Police said Azam and his companions were returning to neighboring Hyderabad city after visiting their friend in Bidar when they stopped midway and offered chocolates to local children.
“One of them had bought chocolates from Qatar and tried to offer it to the children as a token of affection,” Bidar deputy police chief V. N. Patil told AFP.
But one among the group of children started crying, alerting the elders who accused the men of being child kidnappers amid rife social media rumors about child kidnapping rings in the area, the officer said.
Patil said the three managed to flee from the spot but were attacked by a much larger mob a few kilometers (miles) ahead after locals alerted nearby villages via Whatsapp.
Their car flipped after hitting a roadblock placed by the angry mob before they were dragged out of the vehicle and beaten with sticks and stones.
Three policemen were injured in rescue attempts as the mob rampaged for nearly an hour.
The attack comes after five people were lynched by a mob in neighboring Maharashtra state on July 1.
The mob had spotted the victims talking to a child at a market, triggering allegations of child abduction.
The spate of lynchings started last May in eastern Jharkhand state after rumors on WhatsApp about child kidnappers led to the lynching of seven men.
The rumors have since resurfaced, with 21 deaths reported in dozens of attacks across the country mostly targeting non-locals.
India accused Whatsapp of failing to curb false information on its platform.
Arrests after India mob lynches man over WhatsApp child abduction rumor
Arrests after India mob lynches man over WhatsApp child abduction rumor
- Indian police said they arrested 25 people after a man was killed by a mob in the country’s latest lynching
- The men were arrested over the murder of 27-year-old Mohammad Azam
German drone deal under scrutiny over Thiel stake in start-up
- Dietmar Bartsch of the far-left Die Linke called for halting the deal
- The proposed contracts have an initial combined value of $630m
BERLIN: A major proposed combat drone deal for Germany’s military is facing scrutiny from lawmakers worried about US tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s involvement in one of the defense start-ups.
Contracts for Berlin-based Stark Defense, where Thiel holds a stake, and Munich-based Helsing to supply the attack drones will come before parliament’s budget committee next week.
Greens MP Sara Nanni, a security policy spokeswoman for her party, told AFP on Thursday that the controversial right-wing billionaire’s influence raises possible problems.
The strategic importance of the deal means that investor-related risks need to be carefully vetted, she said, adding that “I have to take a very close look at it.”
The German-born Thiel, a co-founder of tech firms PayPal and Palantir and a key early investor in Facebook, is a close confidante of US President Donald Trump.
His right-wing libertarian views and outspoken skepticism of liberal democracies have made him a highly polarizing figure.
Dietmar Bartsch of the far-left Die Linke called for halting the deal, arguing to AFP that paying billions to a firm sponsored by “an avowed opponent of liberal democracies is unacceptable.”
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, a Social Democrat (SPD), also expressed reservations when he said Tuesday that, before awarding the contract to Stark Defense, it must be clarified “what influence Mr.Thiel actually has.”
The proposed contracts have an initial combined value of 536 million euros ($630 million) but include options that could expand the value into the billions.
The chairman of parliament’s defense committee, conservative MP Thomas Roewekamp, largely dismissed concerns about Thiel in comments to the RND news network.
The “small stake held by an American investor” is only of “minor importance,” he said, adding that the drones are urgently needed, particularly to defend German troops deployed to NATO’s eastern flank in Lithuania.
Roewekamp said there remained “open questions regarding the price, the quantity and the technical capabilities” of the drones — but that those issues can be resolved “through the usual parliamentary process.”
Stark Defense declined to disclose details about Thiel’s stake, other than that is remains below 10 percent.
Thiel’s stake does not involve outsized special rights or influence, the company said, and outside access to confidential technical information is regulated by German authorities.
Speaking generally, lawmakers such as Nanni have voiced support for taking risks in order to build up Europe’s tech and defense industries.
“If we don’t want to buy high-tech equipment from the US, then we also have to be prepared to take on more risk,” Nanni told AFP.
SPD MP Andreas Schwarz, a budget and defense policy expert, told AFP there is still broad support in parliament for awarding the drone contracts.
He also noted that Thiel “has stakes in other software companies used by German authorities and NATO.”
But if the defense minister thinks more clarity is need about Thiel’s influence, then “parliament will support him in this,” Schwarz said.
