A software engineer was beaten to death over WhatsApp-driven rumours of child kidnapping in Karnataka's Bidar on Friday. The techie, identified as Mohammad Azam, was caught by a large crowd when he went out for a drive with his three friends.

Mohammad Azam was seen distributing chocolates among the children on the roadside. A resident of a nearby village, Mukri captured the scene and sent it on a Whatsapp group.  

Police said, "A large crowd gathered and started an argument and taking videos. Panicking, the men got into their car and drove away. Some of the villagers chased them on motorcycles."

Some way off, the speeding car hit one of the motorcycles and fell into a culvert.

The crowd soon caught three of them after which they were dragged from the car and were beaten up badly. A large mob of villagers gathered to see the incident but no one saved the victims.

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Mohammad Azam died on the spot. Police arrived and handled the situation and the other two were immediately shifted to the Hospital.

Mohammad Azam's brother Akram in a report said, "My cousins went to Aurad for a picnic, my brother gave chocolates to school children, we don’t know what their parents thought but several villagers gathered & assaulted them."

Karnataka: 1 lynched, 2 injured by mob in Bidar on 13 July on suspicion of child theft. Their relative says 'My cousins went to Aurad for picnic, my brother gave chocolates to school children, we don’t know what their parents thought but several villagers gathered&assaulted them. pic.twitter.com/dB2aiTM2n4

— ANI (@ANI) July 15, 2018

He claimed that his brother was not a kidnapper. He said, "My brother was a software engineer, father of a 2-year-old. He was just a regular guy".

A total of 32 people were arrested including the administrator of the WhatsApp group.