India, Aug. 2 -- In a chilling episode of mob justice, an unidentified man, later found to be mentally ill, was tied to a tree and brutally assaulted by a group of enraged villagers in Ghaziabad's Dasna early Friday morning. The assault - captured in a series of photographs by an HT photojournalist - ended only when a police team intervened and rescued the man.

On Friday evening, police arrested three people and filed a first information report (FIR) identifying 15 people, and listing another 10-15 people as unidentified.

The incident took place when a 38-year-old man, a resident of Pahasu in Bulandshahr district, was found walking through Dasna village around 5am, police said. Residents, already on edge due to a recent spate of theft r...