Image Courtesy:thequint.com
The Palghar police have nabbed 110 people in the matter of the lynching by villagers of three men that took place there on Thursday night. This includes 101 adults who have been remanded to custody and 9 minors who have also been detained in connection with the case. Anil Deshmukh, the Home Minister of Maharashtra warned against communalising the incident and said that an enquiry had been ordered in the matter, reported The Indian Express.
In the case of mob lynching, till now 110 accused ( of local tribal community) have been arrested out of which 9 are juvenile.
Investigation is handed over to CID Crime.
IG Konkan is directed to enquire into police action.
Two police officers are suspended.— Palghar Police (@Palghar_Police) April 20, 2020
Gaurav Singh, Police Superintendent of Palghar said that the investigation was currently focused on identifying the sources of rumours that spread in the tribal village of Gadchinchle where the incident took place after the villagers allegedly mistook the victims to be thieves and lynched them.
“An inquiry will soon be conducted to ascertain what measures were taken by policemen who reached the scene and had taken the victims into a police van,” he said.
The victims, identified as two sadhus of the Juna Akhara, Chike Maharaj Kalpavruksh Giri (70) and Sushilgiri Maharaj (35) were seen wearing faded saffron dhotis and kurtas in the video of the incident that was being circulated. They were identified as being from an ashram in Kandivali who were travelling to Surat to attend a funeral. The third victim was Nilesh Telgade (30), the driver of the van they were travelling in.
The 101 adults arrested are in 12-day police custody and the 9 minors have been sent to an observation home.
In his tweet, state home minister Anil Deshmukh said that the police fired two rounds and yet the crowd did not come under control. He said that there were some people who were trying to take advantage of the incident by giving it a political twist through a communal angle.
पालघर की घटना बहुत दुर्भाग्यपूर्ण है। मामले में 101 लोगों को गिरफ्तार किया गया है और उच्च स्तरीय जांच जारी है। जब पूरा देश कोरोना से लड़ रहा है, कुछ लोग इस घटना को गलत मोड़ देने की कोशिश कर रहे हैं, जो सही नहीं है।#LawAndOrderAboveAll#WarAgainstVirus pic.twitter.com/PVqywq0XR0
— ANIL DESHMUKH (@AnilDeshmukhNCP) April 20, 2020
Twitter had gone abuzz with hashtags like #JusticeforHinduSadhus and several right-wing leaders expressed their displeasure over the incident. Some Hindutva associated handles then tried to instigate a communal angle prompting Deshmukh to tweet that the attackers and the victims belonged to the same religion.
हमला करनेवाले और जिनकी इस हमले में जान गई – दोनों अलग धर्मीय नहीं हैं।
बेवजह समाज में/ समाज माध्यमों द्वारा धार्मिक विवाद निर्माण करनेवालों पर पुलिस और @MahaCyber1 को कठोर कार्रवाई करने के आदेश दिए गए हैं।#LawAndOrderAboveAll— ANIL DESHMUKH (@AnilDeshmukhNCP) April 19, 2020
In this matter, the Inspector General of Police (Konkan Range) also suspended two policemen, Kasa Police station’s Assistant police inspector Anandrao Kale and sub-inspector Sudhir Katare, for alleged dereliction of duty. CM Uddhav Thackeray said, “The Palghar incident has been acted upon. The police have arrested all those accused who attacked the 2 sadhus, 1 driver and the police personnel, on the day of the crime itself.” Uddhav Thackeray added, “Nobody guilty in this heinous crime and shameful act will be spared and they will be brought to justice in the strongest way possible.”
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