Bhubaneswar: Worried over frequent incidents of mobs assaulting innocent persons on the suspicion of them being child-lifters, director-general of police R.P. Sharma on Tuesday issued an advisory warning people of legal action.

Earlier, the top cop had denied reports of child-lifting gangs operating in the state.

The advisory said there were many people who do not know Odia because they come from different states in search of employment or education. Inability to speak the local language is not reason enough for anyone to suspect them of being child-lifters.

The advisory also said rumour-mongers were spreading the message that the child-lifters were taking out organs such as kidneys and eyes of children. However, these organs could be removed only under a doctor's supervision or they would be of no use.

It also warned people of not sharing such kind of messages through social media or they would be booked. Sharma has also asked the concerned police superintendents to keep a strict vigil on such incidents and to initiate stringent action against mob assaulting innocent people.

"As director-general of police, I want to assure the people of the state that no reports of child theft has been reported in the state so far and messages regarding this are purely rumours. I appeal to people not to believe such rumours and at the same time I also warn people not to take law into their own hands," said Sharma.

Though nobody has been lynched in the state so far, police have rescued around 30 victims, including mentally challenged people, from mobs in various districts in the past three days. People who do not know Odia have become soft targets of these mobs.

The police on Tuesday arrested 16 persons in Rayagada for attacking two traders from Kandhamal district on suspicion of being child thieves.

Police said a few days ago, the traders, identified as Dayanidhi Nayak and Hadupu Nayak of Belghar in Kandhamal district, had visited the place on a business trip. However, the villagers suspected them to be child lifters had attacked them.

"The two had filed a police complaint and accordingly, an investigation was initiated. The complainants were not child-lifters. Till now, no child-lifting case has been reported in the district. It's only a rumour and we appeal to people not to believe in these," said Rayagada additional superintendent of police Y.J. Rao.

In Balasore, the police on Tuesday arrested three persons for allegedly assaulting a woman who appeared mentally challenged suspecting her to be a child-lifter on Monday.

With inputs from Koraput and Balasore