Four men were arrested on Monday on charges of lynching a suspected thief inside a marriage house in Entally on Sunday morning. All the accused, including an advocate in his late 50s, were booked under section 304A, that is culpable homicide not amounting to murder.

Police said the arrests were made a day after the marriage of advocate Suprajit Sardar’s daughter. “We took time on humanitarian grounds. Sardar’s daughter Rituparna got married last evening. Besides, we were zeroing in on those who took part in the lynching,” said Gyanwant Singh, the deputy commissioner of police (headquarters). The 28-year-old Rituparna teaches at Barisha Law College.

Around 3.45am on Sunday, a man in his mid-30s was caught when he, along with his two accomplices, entered the Sardars’ house, which is close to Entally police station. Some members of the family and their relatives beat him up suspecting him to be a thief. The other two managed to escape.

They punched the captured man for over an hour and got in touch with the police only when he fell unconscious.

The police admitted the injured, unidentified man to NRS Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries around 6.45am. A preliminary medical examination of the deceased revealed that he had sustained injuries on his head, which caused internal haemorrhage leading to his death.

According to an officer of Entally police station, the policemen faced no difficulty in finding out the accused. “The man was not lynched in a public place and it was not the handiwork of a mob. This happened inside a marriage house and a handful of family members were involved in it,” he said.

After examining Sardar, who works as a legal counsellor at Sealdah court, and his family members, the police came to know that four men had beaten up the deceased.

Sardar, his son-in-law Shantanu Roy and two domestic helps Bhriguram Singh and Jadav were arrested. Jadav has been detained since Sunday afternoon.

Sardar, however, was granted bail on health grounds when he was produced in Sealdah court. The rest of the accused were remanded in police custody.

The police are trying to find out whether anyone else had taken part in the lynching. The officers on Monday visited Sardars’ house and examined the courtyard before arresting the four men.