89 get bail in Palghar mob lynching case

A special court in Thane on Saturday granted bail to 89 accused in the April 2020 Palghar mob lynching case, in which two sadhus and their driver were killed near Mumbai.

After hearing the arguments by special public prosecutor Satish Maneshinde and defense counsels, Amrut Adhikari and Atul Patil, Special Judge SB Bahalkar allowed bail to them after furnishing Rs.15,000 each as surety.

Till date, the state CID has arrested 251 adults and 16 juveniles on various charges of rioting, attempt to murder and murder over the lynching incident that sparked nationwide outrage on April 16 last year.

Till date, a total of 176 adults and 11 juveniles have been released on bail, while the bail applications of 36 more were rejected.

Two sadhus, Kalpavriksha Giri Maharaj (70), Sushil Giri Maharaj (35) and their driver Nilesh Telgade (30), were lynched to death on the night of April 16 in the Gadchinchale village in Dahanu tehsil of Palghar district, nearly 120 kms from downtown Mumbai.

For four days before the incident, there were rumours that robbers had come to the village to steal kidneys, particularly of children and sell them in the black market. This led to the villagers mounting a round-the-clock vigil. The sadhus and their driver were attacked by a group of nearly 500 villagers, who suspected them to be kidnappers.

The two Nashik-based sadhus belonged to the Varanasi-headquartered Shri Panch Dashnam Juna Akhara, the biggest order of sadhus in India.

The case was handed over to the state CID from the Palghar police after there was furore with the BJP attacking the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government demanding a CBI probe into the incident.