Chargesheet filed in Palghar mob lyncing case

Three months after two sadhus and a driver were brutally lynched of Juna Akhada to death in Palghar district near Mumbai, the State-CID filed a chargesheet on Wednesday.

The charge sheet against 150-odd persons runs into 12,000 pages. Two sets of charge sheets - running around 6,000 pages were filed before a court in Palghar.

Two sadhus, Kalpavriksha Giri Maharaj (70 years), Sushil Giri Maharaj (35) and their driver Nilesh Telgade (30), were brutally lynched to death on the night of 16 April 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 was attacked by villagers suspecting to be kidnappers.

The Maharashtra government transferred the probe from the Kasa police station to State-CID.

Among other things, the charge sheet says that the mob-lynching incident was the outcome of rumour-mongering and there was no religious angle to the crime.
Meanwhile, Additional Sessions Judge DN Keluskar rejected the bail pleas by 25 accused in the same case on Tuesday.