25 arrested in India after latest lynching

Police in India have arrested more than two dozen men who were part of a mob that lynched a 32-year-old man after rumours spread over WhatsApp that he was a child-kidnapper, police said yesterday.

The killing of Mohammed Azam, who police said was a call centre employee, in the southern state of Karnataka on Friday, was the latest in a series of assaults in India triggered by false messages about child abductors spread through Facebook Inc -owned WhatsApp.

At least three people have been killed and more than a dozen assaulted over such rumours this year, according to media reports.

Dileep Sagar, a police inspector in Karnataka, said a mob of at least 50 people attacked Azam and a relative after they were spotted offering chocolates to children in a remote village.