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.