Bhubaneswar, May 8 -- Five persons were arrested in connection with the mob lynching of a 32-year-old railway police constable accused of molesting two women on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, police said on Friday, as cops launched a wider manhunt amid mounting criticism over law and order in the state capital.

Government Railway Police (GRP) constable Soumya Ranjan Swain was beaten to death on Thursday in the Balianta area after a confrontation with two women escalated into mob violence, police said.

Videos circulating on social media showed Swain tied to an iron structure and assaulted by a crowd, triggering outrage across Odisha.

Police said Swain, posted in Cuttack and serving in the GRP for around 12 years, was travelling on a moto...