GUWAHATI, India — The government of northeastern India’s Nagaland state has suspended three officials and deployed paramilitary soldiers after a mob stormed a high-security jail, dragged away a man accused of rape and lynched him, officials said Saturday.
Police have launched a search for several men who mobilized thousands of people who broke into the jail in Dimapur city Thursday and seized the rape suspect, whom they also accused of being an immigrant in the country illegally. They pelted him with stones and beat him to death.
One person was killed and several others were injured when police fired to disperse the mob, said a Dimapur police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity, in line with department policy.
Shops and businesses were closed in Dimapur on Saturday, and paramilitary soldiers patrolled the city, which remained under curfew.
The killing of the man — who was arrested Feb. 24 on suspicion of raping a local woman — has caused concern across India, where there is increasing public anger over sexual violence against women.
The incident has sparked protests in the neighboring state of Assam, where the man, identified as Syed Farid Khan, was from.
Protesters set up roadblocks in Assam on Saturday and, for a while, stopped trucks carrying goods and other vehicles from heading to Nagaland.
Amnesty International on Saturday demanded that the lynching be investigated and members of the mob brought to justice.
