NEW DELHI: Authorities in northeastern India have cut internet access after crazed mobs beat three people to death in lynchings sparked by rumours spread on smartphones, officials said on Friday.

They were the latest in a string of more than 25 similar killings in recent months across India, according to press reports, that have been ignited by false information spread on messaging service WhatsApp.

“The administration has decided to cut off the internet and mobile messaging services for next 48 hours... to stop rumour mongering,” said Smriti Ranjan Das, a police spokesman in the tribal-dominated state of Tripura.

The latest victims, one of whom was tasked by authorities with warning people against hoaxes, perished in three separate incidents on Thursday in Tripura.

Locals in Sabroom, some 130 kilometres from the state capital Agartala, attacked “rumour buster” Sukanta Chakraborty with sticks and bricks as he was warning people on a megaphone against erroneous rumours.

Tripura police said it was unclear what sparked the attack.

Das said that the man died on the spot and that his driver was injured in a frenzied attack that lasted nearly an hour.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2018