CBI takes over 2020 Palghar lynching case, files 3 FIRs

The CBI has reopened investigations into the 2020 Palghar mob lynching of two seers and their driver, following Maharashtra's consent for fresh inquiries.

MUMBAI: Five years after the 2020 Palghar mob lynching, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recently re-registered earlier police cases to conduct a fresh investigation into the mob violence that resulted in the killing of two aged seers and their driver. The CBI acted after the Maharashtra government gave its consent via a notification on May 22 this year, and has registered three separate FIRs in the case.

CBI takes over 2020 Palghar lynching case, files 3 FIRs

The lynching happened on April 16, 2020 at Palghar’s Gadchinchle village and the three cases were initially registered by Palghar’s Kasa police station from April 16-18, 2020. The district police’s probes were later handed over to the Maharashtra CID.

The state CID, which submitted three chargesheets in the cases in July-August 2020 to a Dahanu sessions court, had concluded in its probe that the lynching was not pre-meditated but fuelled by rumours that a gang of thieves and child-lifters was on the loose. As per its findings, the seers, who were on their way to attend a funeral in Surat, had asked the driver to avoid main roads to escape police roadblocks erected to enforce the Covid-19 lockdown.

The unusual route, which took them through forested areas, aroused the villagers’ suspicion and they were attacked. The 400-500-strong mob also attacked the police team that was rushed to the spot to rescue the seers. The victims were stoned to death in a police vehicle, which was overturned by the mob.

One of the three CBI FIRs is based on a Kasa police case registered on April 16-17, 2020. It names nine accused (Vilas Chaudhary, Jagdish Bhawar, Vinesh Bhawar, Vijay Gurud, Vishram Sathe, Prakash Savar, Sanjay Savar, Ajay Borsa and Sunil Borsa) and details how the mob assaulted and attempted to kill the seers, their driver and three public servants, API A R Kale, Katare and head constable S Mukhane.

According to Katare, he and other policemen reached the crime spot at around 10.18 pm. One of the seers told him that they lived in Nashik and were going to attend the funeral of his Guru. “While they were going from Saivan to Dadra Nagar Haveli Road, the crowd stopped them at Gadchinchale, saying they were not saints but thieves,” the FIR read. “Soon, a violent crowd of 400 to 500 people gathered there.”

The second CBI FIR is based on the Kasa police’s FIR of April 18, 2020, which was registered on a complaint from API Kale. The FIR named five accused persons (Mahesh Raote, Ganesh Devjirao, Ramdas Asare, Sunil Raote and Jairam Bhawar) along with “400 to 500” other unidentified persons. Kale’s complaint said that he and other policemen had rushed to the crime spot on receipt of information that “a large crowd had gathered at Gadchinchale, had overturned a white car on the road and were beating up three people in that car”. Someone from the mob incited the others by saying, “Don’t release the two people in the government vehicle and the one outside the vehicle, give them to us, we will take care of them,” according to the FIR.

The third CBI FIR is based on the Kasa police’s case registered on April 17, 2020, on a complaint from the then sub-divisional police officer B Sonawane, Palghar, who reached the crime spot on receiving an alert from Kale at around 12.30 am. The FIR named Vinesh Bhawar and 100 to 125 other unidentified individuals.

The FIR said that when a police team was sent to nab the accused persons on a hill near village Devashi, they were allegedly attacked by the crowd which “tried to kill” them. In order to protect the policemen and make the crowd disperse, a senior police officer fired a round from his service pistol. Far from stopping the attack, someone from the crowd allegedly shouted, “Let’s crush these policemen with stones, like the people of the night, and kill them.”