Overview

• Rae Bareli police say 38-year-old Hariom was seized by villagers, stripped, tied to a pole, beaten through the night, and later found near a railway track, where he was declared dead.
• Investigators registered a culpable-homicide case under BNS Section 105 and arrested five suspects—Vaibhav Singh, Vipin Maurya, Vijay Kumar, Sahdev Pasi and Suresh Kumar Maurya—with the role of other villagers under review.
• Unchahar police station incharge Sanjay Kumar was transferred to the crime branch for negligence after warnings about local ‘drone thief’ rumours failed to prevent the attack.
• Police said Hariom, a Fatehpur resident traveling on foot to his in-laws’ home, was assaulted on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday; a viral video earlier helped identify suspects and a post-mortem was ordered.
• Authorities report no conclusive evidence that criminals are using drones, yet night patrols and vigilante assaults have spread across districts as the state enforces drone registration and bans unauthorized night flights.