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NEW DELHI: Police in India threw the bodies of 10 men beaten to death by villagers on suspicion of robbery into a river instead of cremating them, allegedly to save money, reports said on Monday.

Police in the crime-racked eastern state of Bihar had been instructed to cremate the bodies after authorities decided against handing over the victims to their relatives on grounds of law and order, The Hindu newspaper reported.

Eight bodies were found floating in the Ganges River, where dogs and vultures were feeding on them, the report said.

The top administrative official of Vaishali district, where the lynching took place, and a senior police official were transferred on Sunday over the disposal of the bodies.

Another three police officials were suspended, the Hindu newspaper reported.

The 10 men were killed by a mob in Dhelpurwa village on Thursday in the third such incident in recent weeks.

Last week, a mob reportedly gouged out the eyes of three young men who tried to steal a motorcycle, in a reminder of the state's infamous blindings of a group of bandits two decades ago.

A few weeks ago, television channels showed another suspected thief being beaten by a crowd and then tied to a police motorcycle and dragged around, leaving him seriously injured.

Bihar, one of India's poorest state, has an entrenched reputation as the country's most lawless.

But the latest attacks have roused concern about increasing vigilante mob justice in the state.


- AFP/so