Court discharges 36 in Khairlanji case

Nagpur, Feb 22 (UNI) A court in Bhandara has discharged 36 persons, arrested in connection with the killing of four members of a Dalit family by villagers at Khairlanji in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra in September last.

The first ad hoc Judge and Additional Sessions Judge S S Das discharged the 36 persons, as the CBI had not filed any charges against them in connection with the killings.

Counsel for the CBI moved an application, saying no charges were being brought because there was no evidence against these persons.

The court then passed the order discharging them, saying they would no longer need to attend the hearings.

The 36 persons were among the 47 arrested by the police during the investigations into the gruesome killings, and had later been granted bail.

Surekha Bhotmange (45), her daughter Priyanka (18) and sons Roshan (23) and Sudhir (21) were lynched by a mob in Khairlanji late on the night of September 29 last over a land dispute. The probe was later handed over to the CBI, which filed a charge sheet against 11 of the 47 persons against whom the police had initiated investigations.

UNI