It was such a simple plan it was almost dull – three young men from Hyderabad were taking a visiting friend to see some of India’s countryside and escape the city for the weekend. They planned on staying with another friend in his quaint village, in the next state of Karnataka, around 100 miles away.

Hours later, one of the group would be dead, killed by an angry mob. Three would end up in hospital and another would be assaulted and left too scared to go out. “I don’t feel safe”, Mohammad Afroz tells The Sunday Telegraph. “I won’t rest until those responsible are in jail. Even then, I am not sure how I will feel being outside.”

Mr Afroz is still understandably distraught. He was the one in the…