BHOPAL: In yet another alleged case of mob fury triggered by WhatsApp rumours, a woman forest officer and a guard were rouged up and taken hostage on the suspicion of being child-lifters in Madhya Pradesh's Singrauli district, police said.Those attacked have been identified as Trusthi Singh and Brijesh Bagri. The incident took place near Murwa area when the duo was inspecting plantation work, sources said.Singrauli SP Vineet Jain told TOI that a police team has been dispatched to investigate the matter. “I am not sure if it was an incident related to the rumour. But both were in a civil dress. The dispute is being probed,” said the officer.Sources, however, claim that both were thrashed by the furious mob suspecting them to be child lifters. They were later rescued by a police team.It is also being alleged that some coal mafias in the region have targeted the patrolling squads taking advantage of the rumours.Two days ago, rumours about child lifters and organ racketeers had nearly led to the lynching of a man from the Nat community and a government surveyor in the same district.Police have booked a local journalist for spreading the rumour.“We have identified eight people based on the mob attack footage. Five of them have been arrested under preventive sections,” said the SP adding more arrests would be made soon.The accused journalist was booked under Section 153 IPC (wanton provocation with intent to cause riot). Jain said police are stepping up their efforts to spread awareness in the region against social media rumours.Rumours of the kind that led to the lynching of two youngsters in Guwahati recently have had MP Police on the tenterhooks as well. On June 18, cops arrived in the nick of time to save two men from a lynch mob in Balaghat.More than 10 people have been rescued from mobs in eastern MP in the past week alone as messages of ‘child lifters’ continue to do the rounds of social media platforms.

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