New Delhi, Oct. 9: A South Delhi man has been arrested for tying up an alleged thief and leading a mob that beat him up with sticks.

This afternoon, TV channels aired footage of an African man being tortured by a mob.

It emerged later that a Nigerian named Ahmad was handed over to police by residents of Savitri Nagar in south Delhi after they allegedly caught him trying to break open a steel cupboard in the house of one Krishan Kumar, 54, before dawn on September 24.

Ahmad, who police say does not have a passport, is now in Tihar jail.

The FIR filed by Kumar says he caught Ahmad, 28, who got injured when he fell down the stairs while trying to flee.

Deputy commissioner of police (south) Ishwar Singh said no one had the right to beat up Ahmad even if there were allegations of theft. "We have registered an FIR under IPC Section 308 (attempt to murder) and arrested Krishan Kumar. Four others have been identified and we will take action. There is no indication of a racial crime."

Torture of burglary suspects is a common practice in Delhi if they are caught by local residents before the police arrive. In July this year, a local hotel worker was lynched in north Delhi on the false suspicion that he was a thief.

Sources said the police had started an internal probe to identify if any of its officers knowingly omitted mention of the mob violence from the FIR, despite bloodstains on the walls of the building where Ahmad was assaulted.

The video shows Ahmad saying "Please forgive me" as he bleeds from his head and face.

The police are looking for the person who shot the mobile videos and is heard instigating the crowd.

A Congolese student was murdered in an apparent racial violence here last year and several wildcat mob attacks had taken place against Africans in south Delhi soon after. In Noida this year, Nigerian students were arrested on false rumours of cannibalism and local residents had assaulted several Nigerians in the days that followed.

Ezeugo Nnamdi Lawrence, university coordinator for the Association of African Students in India, said they would consult the police, the ministry of external affairs and the African missions here before deciding their future course of action at a general assembly meeting scheduled for October 14.

"This clearly shows that the Indo-African relationship is not one of respect.... People are arrested after every attack but until politicians come out and condemn it, we don't see any change in Indian society where both women and men do not think twice before using any implement available to attack an African, even if it is just based on rumour, because of this stereotype of hatred," he said.