A man was tied to a tree and beaten over suspicion of mobile phone theft in Bihar's Samastipur, police said on Friday. Siddharth Kumar was accused of stealing the mobile of Sonu Kumar from his house.

Siddharth, however, denied the allegations.

In a video recorded one of the villagers, Sonu, and his friend, Gulab, were seen beating Siddharth, who was tied to a tree, with sticks.

Some villagers then rescued Siddharth and took him to his family.

After the video went viral on social media, the police registered a case and arrested Sonu and Gulab.

Last month, two youths were reportedly beaten to death by a group of people on suspicion of theft in a transformer repair shop in the state capital, Patna.

The victims, identified as Rohit Shah and Rakesh Rai, were in their late 20s.