Palghar lynching case: SC notices to Centre, Maharashtra govt on fresh plea

The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notices to the Centre, Maharashtra government, state police chief and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on a fresh petition in the Palghar lynching case. The petition, moved by the family of the victims, is seeking a CBI probe in the case.

The order was passed by a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, MR Shah and V Ramasubramanian which posted the matter for hearing after two weeks.

The state government argued that a similar matter seeking CBI probe is pending with the Bombay High Court for the past two months. But the petitioners sought urgency to hear the matter in the Supreme Court.

The apex court is already hearing a petition on the lynching case has asked the state police to submit a status report.

Three people, including two sadhus (priests), were killed by a violent mob of 500 people on April 16 in Maharashtra’s Palghar district. The incident happened in Gadchinchale village in the district.

The police have interrogated almost all residents of Gadchinchale and some others of the nearby villages, news agency PTI reported an official as saying. More than 150 people have been arrested so far in connection with the case.

The case was earlier handled by Palghar Police and was later transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had visited the area for a spot assessment of the situation last month.

Deshmukh had later shunted out the Palghar Superintendent of Police Gaurav Singh, while several police personnel were transferred to other police stations within the district.

The home ministry had also suspended five police personnel, including assistant police inspector (API) Anandrao Kale; his subordinate, sub-inspector (SI) Sudhir Katare from the Kasa police station under which the village falls.