A suspected robber was lynched by an irate mob in an aborted theft incident in Mbajo Village, Chekalini location, Lugari Sub County.
Confirming the incident, Lugari Sub County Police Commander Bernard Ngungu said the deceased was in a gang of unknown number of robbers who invaded a business premise in Mbajo at around 11pm with an aim of stealing.
The premise owner on hearing commotion outside raised an alarm attracting attention of locals who immediately responded to her distress call and managed to nab one of the suspects as his accomplices escaped.
The mob then descended upon him with all sorts of crude weapons before dosing him with petrol setting him a blaze. They also burnt a motorbike that was being used by the gang, reducing it into ashes.
He said on receiving the information his officer rushed to the scene to rescue him but they found him already burnt beyond recognition.
The police boss warned that cases of mob justice will not be tolerated and called on the residents to avoid taking the law into their own hands and instead advised them to hand all suspects to police for appropriate legal action to be taken against them.
Ngungu said police were going on with the investigation with an aim of arresting the remaining members of the gang who managed to escape.