New Delhi: Bengal police has arrested five people and detained two minors after a man from Kerala was lynched in the state’s South 24 Parganas district, on the suspicion that he was a thief.Although the incident occurred on June 9, details of it emerged only after a video of the attack surfaced on social media several days later. The Bengali-language Anandabazar Patrika has reported that police became aware of the incident that led to the man’s death after seeing it on social media and registered a first information report on June 13.The paper quoted local sources as having said that the man had come from Kerala to the Sankizahan area of Kultali for work and was staying at the home of an acquaintance. On the morning of June 9, the man went to the local market and lost his way. When locals asked him who he was, he was unable to understand or answer in Bengali. This reportedly led to suspicions among locals who assumed he was a thief. Several of them tied him up with a rope and beat him repeatedly.Some news outlets, like South First, have reported that the accused later claimed that rumours of inappropriate behaviour towards a pregnant woman had further escalated tensions, but police said those allegations are still being verified.He was taken to Jaynagar-Kultali Rural Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.The man remains unidentified. Palash Dhali, the Superintendent of Police of Baruipur, told South First that police have “recovered the victim’s mobile phone and are hopeful that it will help us establish his identity, including his native place in Kerala and other details about his whereabouts.”The Malayalam news outlet Mathrubhumi has additionally reported that the man was 30 years old.