SC notice to Maha govt on plea seeking transfer of Palghar lynching case to CBI

New Delhi, June 11: The Supreme Court has sought a response from the state of Maharashtra on a petition seeking a CBI probe into the Palghar lynching case.

The relatives of two Juna Akhara priests who were lynched by a mob at Palghar had moved the Supreme Court seeking a CBI probe into the incident. The petitioner said that they have no faith in the Maharashtra government or police. They further said that they have no faith that a fair and just probe into investigation would be conducted and also suspect their involvement in the incident.

The three victims, from Kandivali in Mumbai, were travelling in a car to attend a funeral in Surat in Gujarat amid the nationwide lockdown when their vehicle was stopped and they were attacked and killed by a mob in Gadchinchile village on the night of April 16 in the presence of police.

The victims were identified as Chikne Maharaj Kalpavrukshagiri (70), Sushil Giri Maharaj (35) and driver Nilesh Telgade (30).

In another petition that was filed in the Supreme Court, the petitioner had referred to media reports and claimed that the police complicit in the incident as they did not use force to prevent it.

"This happened despite the fact that whole country was under lockdown since March 25 and that no person is allowed to be out of their house and everyone has been asked to follow social distancing which raises a huge suspicion on part of local police," the plea said.

"During this whole incident, police did not take any concrete step to protect these innocent men which could be proved by the fact that they did not use any force to disperse the crowd and one of the video even shows that one of the police official actually pushed saints to the crowd when they were asking for the protection," it claimed.

The plea, which had sought transfer of trial in the case from Palghar to a fast track court in Delhi, alleged that the whole incident was "pre-planned and there could be police involvement as well". It alleged that attack on these sadhus was "more like an attack on our society as a whole and could cause social disturbance".

The police has arrested over 100 persons, including nine juvenile, in connection with the case.