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Coronavirus lockdown: 3 travel by internal road to reach Gujarat, lynched near Mumbai
Three people were lynched by a mob of around 200 tribals at Kasa in Palghar district late on Thursday after they had taken an internal road, owing to the lockdown, to reach Gujarat.
The police have arrested around 100 people in the case and they will be produced before the Jawhar court on Saturday. According to assistant police inspector Anandrao Kale of Kasa police station, the tribals from Gadhchinchale village mistook the victims — two priests and their car driver — to be thieves and attacked them with stones, sticks, sickles and knives. “The priests — Sushilgiri Maharaj, 30, and Chikne Maharaj Kalpvirkshagiri, 70 — were travelling to Surat in Gujarat to attend the funeral of another priest. As the Mumbai-Ahmedabad National Highway has been closed owing to the lockdown, their driver Nilesh Telwade, 30, took the internal roads to reach Surat,” said Kale.
When the van reached Gadhchinchale village, the mob stopped the vehicle and questioned the driver on where they were going. Finding them to be suspicious, the mob dragged the three outside and attacked them. “Telwade managed to make a call to us, after which we rushed to the spot. We tried to save the three but the mob began pelting stones on us also. Bhagwat Sonwane, deputy superintendent of police, Jawhar, had to fire in the air to control the mob,” said Kale.
Six police personnel have also sustained injuries and the police vehicles have been destroyed. “We rushed the victims to the government hospital but they were declared dead before admission. Their post-mortem reports are awaited. We have registered cases under sections 188 (disobedience), 307 (attempt to murder), 302 (murder) and 353 (obstructing government servant on duty) of the IPC against the accused as well as under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, and Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897,” said Kale.
This is the second such attack in Kasa in a week. On Monday, Kale and three policemen were injured, while the car of skin specialist Dr Vishwas Valvi was destroyed at Saarni village in Kasa, when they were attacked by 250 tribals. The team had been to the village to distribute food.