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Activists of the Communists Party of India(CPI) burn an effigy representing the rapists of Delhi student, Nirbhaya during their protest in Hyderabad on March 6, 2015.NOAH SEELAM/AFP / Getty Images

A mob stormed a prison in northeastern India, dragged away and lynched a man accused of rape, police said Friday.

Several thousand people overpowered security at Dimapur Central Prison in Nagaland on Thursday, and seized the rape suspect, whom they also accused of being an illegal migrant from Bangladesh. They pelted him with stones and beat him to death, said police Constable Sunep Aier.

The man had been arrested on suspicion of raping a local woman on Feb. 24.

In recent years, India has seen an outpouring of anger against sexual violence that is pervasive across the country. But Thursday's killing was also likely linked to tensions in Nagaland over an influx of migrants from Bangladesh. Dimapur, the largest city in Nagaland, is 1,660 kilometres (1,000 miles) east of New Delhi.

Several local groups blame the migrants for taking away their land and jobs and have been protesting in recent weeks.

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