Mumbai: People of a village in Raigad district, 120 km from here, have lynched a British tourist for his alleged advances towards a woman, a senior police official said on Wednesday.

Stephen Bennett (40), a resident of Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, was beaten up with sticks and later hanged at Malsai village of Roha taluk in the early hours of December 10, Inspector-General (Konkan Range) Satyapal Singh told PTI here. Though four persons were arrested, mystery surrounds the murder as the Briton was "in Roha for three days prior to the killing," he said. "The purpose of his visit to Roha, not on the tourist map, was not clear."

According to him, Bennett, who was on a tourist visa to India, alighted from a Mumbai-bound train at Roha on December 7.

An investigating officer from the Roha police station said that the villagers killed him for allegedly misbehaving with a woman.

"She complained to her husband and he immediately started beating up the Briton with sticks along with some others. Later, Bennett was hanged on a tree with a saree," he said.

The police ruled out the possibility of robbery behind the murder as £ 330 and Rs. 570 was found on Bennett's person, besides the passport.

The British Deputy High Commissioner's office was alerted and the body was sent to England after a post-mortem at a hospital in Raigad district. — PTI

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