Dakshin Ballalguri (Jaigaon), Jan. 6: A youth went missing from here yesterday amid reports that villagers who caught him stealing betel nuts had tied him to a jeep and dragged him 2km away before pouring acid on his eyes, smashing his head in and dumping the body in the Torsa.

The victim, Santosh Rai, had stolen betel nuts worth Rs 200. The village, nestled among tea gardens, is 50km from Jaigaon. Santosh’s family has not lodged any police complaint out of fear.

This morning, the Rais were seen huddled together in their house. After much prodding, Santosh’s brother, Raju, recounted the chain of events that had unfolded yesterday.

“Our parents are both dead and I cultivate paddy and other crops on our small patch of land. Santosh does nothing and wanders around, coming home only occasionally,” Raju said.

Yesterday, around 7am, Raju heard that two villagers, Mahendra Karji and Shyamal Champramari, had caught Santosh with a sack of raw betel nuts near Haldibari Tea Estate, around 10km from Dakshin Ballalguri.

A group of 30 people soon arrived with Santosh and tied him to a betel nut tree at Mahendra’s residence, said Raju. Half-an-hour later, they tied him to the Commander jeep of Ayangkhen Karji and drove about 2km to a field adjacent to the Ballalguri gram panchayat office.

“I could hear his cries as they dragged him away,” said Santosh’s grandmother, Gangamaya.

Raju and his maternal uncle Nanda Kumar followed the mob to the field. The panchayat office was closed on Saturday. “They poured acid on his eyes and smashed in his head with stones and iron rods as we watched helplessly,” said Raju.

After that, the body was dragged towards the Torsa river and that was the last time Raju saw his brother.

“The villagers told us that the same thing would happen to us if we went to the police,” said Gangamaya.

Today, Mahendra was not at home. His wife, Asari, said he was away on work. After repeated queries about what had happened yesterday, Asari finally opened up.

“My husband and his partner, Shyamal, have taken a betel grove on lease. Santosh had been caught stealing from there on three earlier occasions. Yesterday, he was tied to a tree at our garden, but no one beat him up,” she said. “Later, the villagers took him away and I cannot say what happened to him.”

The two nearest police stations denied knowledge of the incident. Jalpaiguri police chief S. Tripurari said he would look into the matter.

Three lynched

Three suspected Bangladeshi cattle smugglers were lynched at Ekadhikgram in Mathabhanga early this morning, reports our Cooch Behar correspondent.

Five others were also badly beaten up and had to be admitted to the subdivisional hospital. Eleven heads of cattle were seized.