A 21-year-old, who police said was close to a 17-year-old girl from a different community, was paraded and beaten to death by a group of men in a village in Maharashtra’s Jalgaon district. His family members too were assaulted when they tried to come to his rescue.Police said Wednesday that the incident took place Monday and eight persons had been arrested so far.According to police, Suleman Rahim Khan Pathan, 21, set out from his home in Chhota Betawat village for Jamner, 15 km away, Monday morning to fill an online form for police recruitment.Around 3.30 pm, when Khan was sitting in a cafe with a girl, 8-10 people showed up and began checking his mobile phone after snatching it from him, a police officer said. They began assaulting him after they saw a photograph on the phone and dragged him out of the cafe.Khan was taken to his village where he was paraded and assaulted repeatedly, finally with a stick near his residence, the officer said.“When Khan’s parents and sister tried to rescue him, the men assaulted them as well,” the officer said.Khan lost consciousness because of the beating. “The accused left him outside his house, believing he was dead,” the officer said.Story continues below this adVillage residents rushed Khan to the hospital where he was declared dead. A postmortem and inquest panchnama were conducted, and the body was handed over to Khan’s family.His father Rahim said, “Suleman was my only son and was preparing for a police recruitment exam. Around 15 people brought him near our house. They were kicking and punching him, some even beating him with a stick. The villagers informed us and we rushed to save our son. They were very aggressive and some of them started beating me. They did not even spare my wife, daughter and my 80-year-old father. They were also punched and kicked.”“My son was bleeding, not a single part of the body was without a wound. They threatened the villagers, so no one came forward to help. My son was not having an affair with any girl. The affair story is completely false. They simply targeted my son,” he said.Of the eight arrested so far, four were held Tuesday and remanded in police custody until August 18. Police identified them as Abhishek Rajkumar Rajput (22), Ghanshyam alias Suraj Bihari Lal Sharma (25), Deepak Bajirao (20) and Ranjat alias Ranjit Ramkrishna Matade (48).Story continues below this adConfirming the arrests, Jamner police inspector Murlidhar Kasar said Aditya Devade, Krishna Teli, Shejwal Teli and Rishikesh Teli, all in their mid-20s, were arrested Wednesday from different parts of Jalgaon and will be produced in court Thursday.Stay updated with the latest - Click here to follow us on Instagram© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:Lynching casesMaharashtra