Temple looted, sadhus attacked in Maharashtra's Palghar, 1 accused held

In yet another incident of attack on saints from Maharashtra's Palghar, on the wee hours of Thursday (May 28, 2020) three unidentified men barged into Jagrut Mahadev Mandir and Ashram at Balivali in Vasai, Palghar District, attacked the temple’s priests and fled with valuables worth Rs. 6,800.

Mumbai: In yet another incident of attack on saints from Maharashtra's Palghar, in the early hours of Thursday (May 28, 2020) three unidentified men barged into Jagrut Mahadev Mandir and Ashram at Balivali in Vasai, Palghar District, attacked the temple’s priests and fled with valuables worth Rs. 6,800.

While one of the three accused was arrested on Thursday and Rs 2000 was recovered from him, the other accused are still absconding. The police is conducting further investigations.

Senior officer of Virar police station, Suresh Varade said that a case has been registered against the three accused under sections 394 and other relevant sections.

According to the police, the trio attacked Shankaranand Dayanand Saraswati (54) and his co-worker Shyamsingh Somsingh Thakur (60) the two priests of Jagrit Mahadev Temple.  

Earlier, two sadhus and a driver were heading towards Surat from Mumbai in a car were assumed were lynched by a mob on April 16.

The mob of villagers stopped them and beat them to death on suspicion that they were thieves.

At least 133 people have been arrested in the case so far with nine minors among them, according to the police.