The victim, identified as Azgar Molla from the town’s Phulbari area, was found lying 500m from the Bhangar police station, which comes under the jurisdiction of the Kolkata Police. At first the onlookers thought the man was intoxicated, but he was declared dead on arrival when taken to hospital.

According to locals, they had arranged a night watch in the area following a theft in Bhangar Bazar. The mob-lynching is thought to have taken place at 4.30 am. It is alleged that no one came forward to save the man.

The police have sent the body for a postmortem and started an investigation even though they have received no complaint.

“Every day such incidents take place, but have we seen police acting sternly against the culprits? If police start beating the accused people, it will serve as a deterrent,” said BJP leader Sajal Ghosh.

Joy Prakash Majumdar, a leader of the ruling TMC, said the governor was sitting on a Bill related to mob-lynching. “Mamata Banerjee’s government had drafted a law against mob attacks and lynching and it was sent to Raj Bhavan for approval when Jagdeep Dhankhar was Governor. Now the Bill is stuck in Raj Bhawan with Governor C V Ananda Bose,” he said.

Cases of mob-lynching have been reported from five districts—North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Hooghly, Bardhaman, and Paschim Medinipur—in the recent past.