A 48-year-old villager in South Dinajpur district was lynched allegedly by his neighbours on Tuesday night, a few hours after he had passed lewd remarks at local woman.

The family members of the deceased have filed a police complaint. One person has been arrested and searches are on to round up more accused people.

Pinku Roy, a migrant worker, had returned home at Paranpur in the Balurghat block around three months ago. Roy got drunk on Tuesday evening and while walking back home, he made obscene comments against a few local women.

Some local people got enraged and took on Roy. Other residents intervened and brought the situation under control.

“Later at night, a few men called out Roy and took him to the dry bed of the Atreyee river. They beaten him up indiscriminately with wood planks and bamboo. When we could not find him in the room, we started a search and found him bleeding and lying on the river bed,” said Shankar Roy, one of his brothers.

The family members took Pinku to Balurghat district hospital where doctors pronounced him dead.

Five residents were named in a complaint filed by Pinku’s relatives on Wednesday evening.

“Even if he had done something wrong, no one has any right to lynch him. We want the accused to be arrested,” said Narayan, another brother of the victim.

Rahul Dey, the superintendent of police of South Dinajpur, said: “One person has been arrested. We are in search of some others.”