POLICE have arrested 16 people in India after two men were beaten to death by a large gang after asking directions amid hysteria over WhatsApp rumours of child kidnappers.

Abijeet Nath and Nilotpal Das were killed in Assam as rumours of child kidnappings have spread across the country via the messenger service, leading to the deaths of at least seven people in the past month.

Rumours have been fuelled by a video that purports to show two men approach a group of children on a motorcycle, snatching one of them before riding off.

However the video is fake and is, in fact, a child safety video made in Pakistan that has been heavily edited to appear like an abduction.

It has led to attacks against those who are unfamiliar or don’t speak the local dialect.

Assam police spokesman Mukesh Agarwal told the BBC: "When rumours start circulating on social media, it takes some time to stop them completely.”

Students and activists have taken to the streets in protest against the attacks and last month, police in the southern city of Hyderabad marched alongside residents with loudspeakers chanting “don’t believe the rumours.”