A wholesale shoe trader died following an assault by a mob in Kasargod town on Saturday. C H Mohammad Rafiq, 48, a resident of Chemmanad, died in the attack. The police said that it was not clear whether the assault was the actual cause behind his death.
He was assaulted on the charges of misbehaving with a woman at a private hospital in Kasaragod.
The Town Police have registered a case of unnatural death in connection with the incident. Earlier, the woman had filed a complaint against Rafiq with the police.
The incident took place at 1.45 pm on Saturday. According to the complaint, Rafiq tried to misbehave with a 35-year-old woman who had come to the hospital for the treatment of her son. When the woman questioned Rafiq on his misbehaviour, he fled from the hospital.
The woman raised an alarm and screamed out following which a group of people who were sitting on the roadside overpowered Rafiq and thrashed him.
Eyewitnesses have given statements to the police that a group of people chased Rafiq who ran towards the new bus stand area and assaulted him. The CCTV footage also clearly shows Rafiq being pushed to the ground. Though ambulance drivers in the area lifted Rafiq from the ground and rushed him to the hospital, he was declared brought dead.
The police said that whether the mob assault was the reason for Rafiq's death would be known only after getting the postmortem examination report. No signs of assault were found on his body, they said.
The police suspect that Rafiq might have suffered a heart attack while running in panic. The body has been shifted to Pariyaram Government Medical college for postmortem examination.
