KARACHI: The mob that killed two employees of a telecom company in Machhar Colony in Karachi’s Mauripur last week “mistook” the common antiseptic pyodine as a drug to kidnap children, which led to the violence , according to the Sindh police chief.

Inspector General Ghulam Nabi Memon, in a briefing to the Sindh cabinet, said that the mob attacked the two men after mistaking the pyodine for a knock-out drug.

Earlier, the Sindh govt spokesperson Murtaza Wahab had tweeted that the IG would be briefing the cabinet over the public lynching.

“An engineer and a staff of the telecom company were checking the mobile tower. There was a medical kit in the engineer’s vehicle. The medical kit contained pyodine, which people thought is used to kidnap children after knocking them unconscious.”

Initial reports said that the two employees were killed after rumours spread that they were kidnappers. The horrifying visuals on social media showed that the mob beat the two people to death with batons, sticks, and stones. It is estimated that the crowd comprised over a hundred people.

Read: Karachi mob beats two telecom workers to death over suspicion

At least 15 people have so far been identified through video footage and all of them have been “arrested”.

An anti-terrorism court in Karachi has sent at least four suspects in the lynching on physical remand for eight days. The court has also sought a progress report on November 8 from the police.

In his briefing, IG Memon stressed the need for a trained police force to control the crowd. The crowd management force should have relevant weapons for protection, he suggested.

“Incidents like Machhar Colony are unforgivable and intolerable,” Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah said.

The cabinet has announced compensation of Rs5 million each to the victims, who belonged to Thatta and Naushahro Feroze.

The engineer hails from Thatta, where political parties and civil society protested against the lynching and demanded the Sindh government provide justice to the victims.

The Sindh cabinet has formed a subcommittee for mobile management and called for legislation on the decision. Imtiaz Sheikh, Murtaza Wahab, Sadiq Ameen, the home department secretary, the law secretary, and IG police would be part of the subcomittee.