A Nigerian tourist who lost his way in India was chased and
thrashed by a mob that suspected him for a terrorist or a member of an
Indian guerrilla group, known as the Naxalites.
The Times of India
said the Nigerian identified as Clinton Osemwegi Igbinosun was attacked
during late night hours of Wednesday. He sustained serious injuries,
lost all his cloths and fell into an open sewer puddle as he fled for
his life through the lanes of the village of Allapalli, located in the
Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, India
Exhausted and beaten,
Clinton laid naked in a narrow lane when he was rescued by the local
police after midnight. Police verified his claims and are going to hand
him over to Foreign Registration Office (FRO) on Friday.
SDPO,
Aheri, Suhas Bauche said that Clinton is a Nigerian visiting India on a
tourist visa. He was heading to Bangalore from Delhi by a train.
However, he got irritated by the poor services and amenities in the
train and disembarked at Nagpur on Wednesday morning.
Clinton then
decided to travel by bus and asked people for a bus heading to
Bangalore (Vengaluru). People however failed to understand his African
accent and showed him a bus for Ballarshah (Ballarpur). He boarded and
disembarked by afternoon.
According to the Times of India report,
Clinton got frustrated on learning that he reached a wrong destination
and decided to head back to Allahabad from where he had initially
started his journey. Again he asked for a bus for Allahabad at Ballarpur
bus-stop and because of his NIgerian accent, people showed him the bus
for Allapalli.
He reached Allapalli at around 10pm and instantly
understood that he had again reached a wrong place. People turned
suspicious towards the more than six-and-half feet tall Nigerian as he
started looking for a hotel and sought direction for airport late in the
night in the Naxal-affected area.
“His English in African accent
is very difficult to understand. Cops too had a difficult time in
understanding what he said. His tall demeanour and African looks turned
people suspicious towards him,” said SPDO Bauche. He claimed that people
sought explanations in local language and broken English, which he
didn’t understand either.
As the crowd grew bigger, Clinton got
afraid and started fleeing. People got more suspicious and started
chasing him. Though Bauche did not confirm of Clinton being thrashed,
local sources claimed that he was chased and beaten by the people.
How
Clinton lost his cloths is however a puzzle. Cops suspect that he might
have himself taken off his cloths after he fell into the sewer.
After
running for hours to save his life, Clinton managed to dodge the crowd
and took refuge in a narrow lane between two houses. Vilas Bandawar who
woke up hearing mayhem, saw an exhausted and injured Clinton laying
naked. He helped him wash by pouring water and gave a lungi.
Meanwhile, cops had reached the place on getting information and took him to hospital.
“We
have confirmed his whereabouts and cross-checked his claims. Clinton
turned out to be an innocent foreigner who lost his way. We are going to
hand him over to FRO officials,” said Bauche.
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