Palghar lynching case: CID files 4500-page charge sheet against 165 accused including 11 juveniles

File pic: Zee News

New Delhi: In the Palghar lynching case, Mahrashtra's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) filed a charge sheet of 4500 pages at Dahanu court in Palghar district on Wednesday (July 15). The charge sheet has named a total of 165 accused including 11 juveniles.

In the mob lynching, two Hindu Sadhus and their driver were brutally killed at Gadhchinchale village in Palghar district on April 16, 2020. About 5 cops were suspended and more than 30 were transferred and the case was transferred to the state CID.

Two saints, Kalpavriksha Giri Maharaj, Sushil Giri Maharaj, were killed amid rumours that they belonged to a gang involved in the kidnapping of children to harvest organs, including kidneys.

The two sadhus and Nilesh Yalgade, who was driving a Maruti Eeco Van, were going to Surat to attend the funeral of a saint from their Kandivali ashram in Mumbai when they were attacked by the mob.

Earlier on June 11, the Supreme Court had issued notice to the Maharashtra government seeking response on a petition demanding a CBI probe into the lynching of two sadhus. The relatives of two Juna Akhara priests had filed the plea in the top court seeking a CBI probe into the incident. 

The plea has said that they have no faith in the Maharashtra government or police. 

In another petition filed in the apex court, the petitioner had claimed that it was widely reported by the media that the Maharashtra police had failed to use force to stop the mob from lynching the two sadhus. 

The petition alleged that the police failed to take any concrete step to protect the innocent men which could be proved by the fact that they did not use any force to disperse the crowd and one of the videos even shows that one of the police officials actually pushed saints to the crowd when they were asking for the protection.