Thane court grants bail to 89 people in Palghar mob lynching case

The defence counsels told the court that the applicants had no role to play in the incident and the police had arrested them on mere suspicion and based their mobile tower location.

A special court in Maharashtra’s Thane granted bail to 89 people arrested in connection with the lynching case in Palghar, in which two monks and their driver were killed last year, news agency ANI reported on Saturday. According to ANI, they were granted bail on the grounds that they were simply present at the spot at the time of the incident. The accused will be released on a surety of ₹15,000 each, the court said.

On April 16, 2020, a mob lynched two sadhus, Chikne Maharaj Kalpavrukshagiri (70) and Sushilgiri Maharaj (35), and their driver Nilesh Telgade (30) at Gadchinchale in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, located about 140 km north of Mumbai. (REUTERS (Representative Image))

On Wednesday, district judge SB Bahalkar heard arguments presented by special public prosecutor Satish Maneshinde and defence counsels Amrut Adhikari and Atul Patil appearing for the arrested accused in a dozen bail pleas. Maneshinde told the court that the applicants before the court were present at the scene, but they had no active part in the crime.

Of the total 165 accused lodged in jail, 90 have sought bail and the court will decide on their pleas on January 16, defence counsel Adhikari said, according to news agency PTI. The court had earlier granted bail to 105 accused and rejected the pleas of 36 others, whose role, the court stated, had been proven and hence, they did not deserve bail.

The defence counsels told the court that the applicants had no role to play in the incident and the police had arrested them on mere suspicion and based their mobile tower location. The accused also questioned the validity of three FIRs being registered for the same incident.

Seventy-year-old Chikne Maharaj Kalpavrukshagiri and Sushilgiri Maharaj, 35), and their driver Nilesh Telgade, 30 were lynched by a mob at Gadchinchale in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, about 140km north of Mumbai, on April 16, 2020. While the two monks were heading for Gujarat in a car to attend a funeral, the mob suspected that they were child-lifters.

The Criminal Investigation Department of the Maharashtra police has filed a charge sheet in the case.

(With agency inputs)