A 38-year-old auto-rickshaw driver was beaten to death on suspicion of being a thief in Maharashtra's Palghar district, the police said on Sunday. The incident took place near Chinchoti on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway in the small hours of Saturday. Naseem Shaikh, the victim, was resident of Sopara in the district.

Police spokesperson Hemant Katkar said that three men, who were identified as residents of Asha Nagar in Chinchoti, stopped Shaikh when he was driving his auto-rickshaw around 3.30 am and accused him of being in the area with the intention of committing a theft.