Kolkata, May 28 : A tribal youth was lynched by eight people at Nagrakata in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district, said officials on Tuesday, adding that five accused have been arrested.

The incident happened on Monday night. The police arrested five accused on Tuesday morning, while the remaining three are missing.

The deceased was identified as Kishan Kumhar.

Confirming the arrest of five persons, the inspector-in-charge of Nagrakata Police Station Asish Karmakar described the incident as heinous and also said that probably some kind of old rivalry was behind the lynching.

He also said that search operations are on to find the three absconding accused.

The body of the deceased youth has been sent for post-mortem.

According to the statements given by the family members of the victim to the local police, the eight accused barged into their residence and dragged the victim out.

They started beating him there and the family members tried to resist them; they were also beaten up by the accused. Thereafter, the accused persons left dragging the victim, Later his body was found tied to a tree in a naked condition.

/IANS