A 32-year-old man was tied him to a tree and allegedly lynched by a mob on suspicion of theft in Uttar Pradesh's Aonla town. According to reports, some of the attackers joined the crowd for the sheer 'fun' of it and posed for mobile cameras while the victim, Basid Khan, was being thrashed in the background on Friday. Basid, it later turned out, was an alcoholic but not a thief. Basid was handed over to police who set him free as no one came forward to file a complaint against him.

His family, on seeing his condition, took him to hospital where he died of internal bleeding the next day. A heavy police force was deployed in the area.

Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Shailesh Pandey told reporters, "I have received a video in which Basid is seen tied to a tree and locals were thrashing him. We are trying to identify the accused using the videos of the incident. There were no visible injuries on the body. The post-mortem will be conducted by a panel of doctors to ascertain the reason of death."

Basid's mother told reporters, "People were beating my son for 'fun'. The police dropped him home in a rickshaw and Basid was in great pain. We took him to hospital, but he died there."

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