Fired steelworkers in Eastern India burn boss to death

An angry mob of fired steel plant workers in eastern India took revenge by burning a senior executive to death in his car.

About a dozen or more laid-off people attacked a vehicle carrying Radhey Shyam Roy as he left the factory in the state of Orissa on Thursday. They covered the automobile with petrol and set it ablaze, according to police Superintendent Ajay Kumar Sarangi said.

“The driver and another employee managed to escape, but Roy was trapped and died later of serious burn injuries,” Sarangi said.

Roy, 59, was a deputy general manager at Graphite India Ltd., in the town of Balangir, about 400 kilometers west of Orissa's state capital Bhubaneshwar.

The police said they have arrested two workers in connection with the murder, and that more arrests were imminent.

Similar recent incidents have occurred in India.

Last November, an executive at an Indian-Japanese firm was beaten to death in Delhi, allegedly by a mob of sacked workers. Early last year, an executive at an Indian automotive company was lynched by fired workers in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

In 2008, the Indian chief of an Italian-based auto-parts company was beaten to death in a New Delhi suburb by former employees.