28 Palghar lynching accused get default bail after police fail to file chargesheet within 90 days; only 10 to walk out of prison

IANS photo

PALGHAR: A local court on Monday (August 11) granted default bail to 28 accused in the April 16 Palghar mob-lynching case in which two seers and a driver were killed. The accused were granted bail by the court as no chargesheet was filed against them within the specified 90 days.

The 28 accused were arrested as part of the first two FIRs relating to murder and attempt to murder filed in the case. However, of this group, only 10 will get bail while the remaining 18 will be taken into custody again as their names figure in the third chargesheet, filed on August 3 before the Dahanu court, relating to obstructing police, rioting and attempt to murder filed against 47 accused.

These 28 accused were arrested between April 18-30 this year. The 28 accused who were arrested, but whose names did not figure in the two charge sheets, moved bail applications, which came up on August 10. They have been lodged in judicial custody in various jails in Palghar and Thane districts owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A total of 154 people were arrested in the mob lynching case, which took place late night on April 16 in Gadchinchale village in Kasa area of Palghar. 

On the night of April 16, Sadhus Kalpavruksha Giri (70) and his assistant Sushilgiri Maharaj (35) and their driver Nilesh Telgade (30) were killed while en route from Mumbai to Surat for a funeral during the lockdown. Taking them as robbers or kidnappers, a huge mob of tribals and villagers attacked them with stones, sticks, and sickles and the trio later succumbed to the grievous injuries, sparking off a nationwide furore.