Palghar lynching case: Special Court to hear bail pleas of accused on November 3

THANE: A special court in Maharashtra's Thane district on Thursday decided to hear on November 3 the bail applications filed by 101 accused in the Palghar mob lynching case, in which three persons were killed.

Special court judge P P Jadhav adjourned the hearing due to the absence of investigating officers in the case.

Special public prosecutor Satish Maneshinde opposed the bail applications filed by the accused and submitted to the court the details of the role of each accused and their call data records (CDRs).

Advocate Amrut Adhikari, who appeared on behalf of the applicants, argued that the FIR does not mention their names as assailants and hence their involvement in the crime appears to be suspicious.

"The custodial interrogation of these applicants has been over and the investigation is also complete. Charge sheets have also been filed in the JMFC court at Dahanu by the CID. In such circumstances, their further detention is not required," the bail application said.

Advocate Pramod Oza appeared on behalf of the families of the two sadhus, who were killed in the incident.

In all, three FIRs related to murder, armed rioting and other charges were registered in connection with the incident, in which two sadhus and their driver were lynched by a mob at Gadchinchale village in Palghar on April 16 when they were travelling in a car to Surat (Gujarat) to attend a funeral amid the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

The brutal mob attack took place amid rumours that child-lifters were roaming in the area during the lockdown.

The case was later handed over to the CID for probe.

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

The accused in the case were charged with murder, armed rioting and using criminal force to prevent a public servant from doing is duty, among other offences.

At present 128 persons, including two juveniles, are in judicial custody.

On Wednesday, at least 24 more persons were arrested in connection with the case.