The Palghar police have arrested over 100 people and detained nine minors in connection with the lynching of three men allegedly by a mob of villagers in the district over mistaken identity. Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh said an inquiry had been ordered into the incident, and warned against communalising it. Senior officers said that an inquiry would be conducted to find out what steps the police had taken to help the victims after allegations that the police ran away from the spot leaving the victims to fend for themselves.
Palghar Superintendent of Police Gaurav Singh said that investigation have so far focused on identifying the sources of the rumours spread in the tribal village of Gadchinchle in Dahanu taluka. A video of the incident that surfaced shows a mob dragging the victims out of the police van and assaulting them with sticks and stones. There is also footage of one of the victims holding a policeman’s hand for protection, as they walked towards a vehicle but as the mob rained blows on the man’s head, the policeman is seen shaking him off and turning away to protect himself.
The victims were identified as two sadhus - Kalpruksh Giri and Chikne Maharaj - from an ashram in Kandivili, who were travelling to Surat to attend a funeral and Nilesh Telgade, the driver of the van. But the people of Gadchinchle, a tribal village in a remote part of the district, have mistaken them as child kidnappers and organ harvesters.
The police have so far arrested 101 people and detained nine minors. District Magistrate Kailash Shinde promised that the inquiry would be conducted about the behaviour of the police personnel during the incident. A video on social media after the incident triggered a controversy about the inaction of the police.
