Rumours of child-lifting responsible led to Palghar lynching, says chargesheet by CID

The chargesheet filed by the CID says that two-monks and their driver were brutally killed due to rumours circulating in the area of child-lifters roaming in the area and has no communal angle to the Palghar lynching case.

Mumbai: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Maharashtra police on Wednesday filed chargesheet against 126 accused in the Palghar lynching case in which two monks and their driver were beaten to death by a mob in April amidst the lockdown.  

The two monks Maharaj Kalpavruksha Giri (70), Sushil Giri Maharaj (35) and their driver Nilesh Telgade (30) were lynched by a mob at Gadchinchale village in the district on April 16 when they were travelling in a car to Surat to attend a funeral amidst the lockdown due to coronavirus, police said. The brutal mob attack took place as rumours were rife that child-lifters were roaming in the area during the lockdown, the police added further. The case was later handed over to the CID for probe. 

In all, three FIRs related to murder, armed rioting and other charges were registered in connection with the incident. The CID filed the 4,955-page chargesheet in the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) at Dahanu taluka in Palghar district, the probe agency said. The chargesheet was filed by Deputy Superintendent of Police (CID) Vijay Pawar, the investigating officer in the case, at the JMFC court in Dahanu against 126 accused.

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The CID in its press release said that the team probing the incident examined 808 suspects and 118 witnesses to collect strong evidence against the accused. In all, 154 persons were arrested and 11 juveniles in conflict with law were detained. None of the accused has been released on bail so far.

The Special Public Prosecutor Satish Maneshinde told TheNews21 that the chargesheet is filed within the stipulated period by the agency. “The mammoth investigation by the agency is done before filing the chargesheet against 154 persons in the Palghar matter. Based on its investigation, the two separate chargesheet are filed by the investigators, one pertaining to attempt to murder and another one is for murder, besides IPC sections the accused were charged under relevant provisions of the Disaster Management Act, the Epidemic Diseases Act (since lockdown was in force during the incident), the Maharashtra Police Act and the Maharashtra Damage to Public Property (Prevention) Act. The agency has a chargesheet 126 people in it however for remaining evidence are sent to the Central Forensic laboratory. Since these are technical evidence gathered by the team, the reports are awaited,” added Maneshinde the Special Public Prosecutor.

“The accused are charged with murder, armed rioting and using criminal force to prevent a public servant from doing is duty, among other offences,” said Maneshinde

The CID said that since there is adequate evidence against two juveniles in conflict with law, separate proceedings against them are being initiated before the Juvenile Justice Board. The Dahanu court has rejected the bail application of 25 accused arrested in the case.

After the incident caused uproar, the state government suspended Kasa police station in-charge Anandrao Kale, under whose jurisdiction the crime took place, and some other policemen, including sub-inspectors. Also, more than 35 police constables and personnel of other ranks were transferred in the wake of the mob attack. The government had also sent the then Palghar district police chief, Gaurav Singh, on forced leave and replaced him with Dattatraya Shinde.