Will announce names of 101 accused in Palghar lynching incident soon: Deshmukh

Vaibhav Ganjapure | TNN | Updated: Apr 22, 2020, 13:00 IST

Nagpur: Without directly naming the opposition, state home minister Anil Deshmukh on Wednesday, accused it of giving a communal angle to the Palghar mob lynching. “I will announce the list of 101 accused allegedly involved in it on social media soon,” he added.
On April 16, a mob lynched two Hindu priests and their driver at Gadchinchale Village in Palghar suspecting them to be dacoits, amid police presence. Immediately after the incident, ruling party and opposition members accused each other of alleged involvement of their activists.
Deshmukh’s response came after BJP’s Maharashtra chief Chandrakant Patil demanded his resignation citing deteriorating law and order situation in state and an independent inquiry into the Palghar episode.
“The entire incident is a big blot to humanity. It took place in a tribal-dominated remote area. Rumours were strife there about robbers coming at night in disguise to kidnap children. I have ordered an inquiry by the special inspector general,” Deshmukh said in Nagpur while addressing the media through Facebook.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government has already handed over the Palghar probe to its criminal investigation department (CID). “We’ve arrested all 101 accused within eight hours of the crime. They were caught from jungles and mountains where they were hiding,” said Deshmukh.
Terming the opposition’s barbs on the government as “unfortunate”, Deshmukh said they also tried to give a casteist and political angle to the lynching by naming one of the killers. “In the video grab of incident, the mob was shouting ‘oye bas’ (now stop), which is being misinterpreted as a name from a community. Such a person was never present there,” he said.
Deshmukh asked the opposition to join hands with the government to fight the Covid-19 crisis.
On Tuesday, CM Thackeray had also ruled out any involvement of religious or communal groups in the Palghar killings warning that anyone trying to give such colours would be strictly dealt with.