Timely intervention by police prevented a group of angry residents from beating an alleged thief dead at Radhikanagar under Telco police station in the small hours of Saturday.

The incident bore some resemblance to the lynching of Tabrez Ansari in June last year in Seraikela, who was caught for “theft”, tied to a pole and made to chant Jai Shri Ram, though unlike in that case on Saturday a section of people tried to save the man who was being beaten up.

Mohammed Imran, 25, had taken shelter in a friend’s house at Radhikanagar in the early hours of Saturday following what some of the residents said was a theft attempt along with two of his aides.

After local residents caught hold of Imran, a section of them began raining blows on him while another group tried in vain to prevent them from doing so. In the meantime, a police patrol reached the spot and rescued Imran from the clutches of the mob.

The cops said Imran, a resident of Mango, around 10km from Radhikanagar, had along with two of his associates scaled the boundary wall and jumped into the house of Lakhinder Thakur for committing theft around 12.30am.

Lakhinder, who was still awake, shouted at the intruders making them escape from the spot. “But by that time, neighbours had swung into action and started searching for the thieves. When they entered the house of Lakhinder’s next-door neighbour Vicky Kumar, they found Imran hiding in a corner. They dragged him out of the house and started beating him,” a police official said.

Officer in-charge (OC) of Telco police station Akhilesh Mandal confirmed the incident.

“Primary investigation has revealed that Imran was known to Vicky and had come to his house,” the OC said.

Mandal said they were yet to arrest Imran because they did not find any evidence against him.

Soon after the incident, the family members of Vicky, who is a murder convict and was on parole, left their home.