A Nigerian tourist who lost his way in India was chased and thrashed by a mob that suspected him of being a terrorist or a member of an Indian guerrilla group, known as the Naxalites. According to The Times of India, 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. 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. SPDO Bauche said:
“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. 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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