No Muslim involved in Palghar lynching: State home minister

Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh said that there was no communal angle to the Palghar lynching incident on April 16 and that none of the 101 accused arrested

Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh said that there was no communal angle to the Palghar lynching incident on April 16 and that none of the 101 accused arrested by the police were Muslim.

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Deshmukh said that the attack was a fall-out of rumours triggered by social media posts about child abductors in the area.

“Not even a single member of the Muslim community was among the attackers. Altogether, 101 have been arrested on charges of lynching. Police acted swiftly and arrested all accused in eight hours by finding some of them from the jungle and mountains. The state-run Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has started the probe headed by a special inspector general-rank officer,” Deshmukh said. He later released a list of the names of the 101 arrested in the case.

Stopping short of naming the main Opposition, the home minister alleged that a few politicians were trying to give a communal angle to the “unfortunate incident” in the hopes of coming back to power.

The BJP has attacked the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government for its failure to maintain law and order and has demanded Deshmukh’s resignation. The government has already suspended two policemen for alleged dereliction of duty.

On April 16, two seers Kalpavriksha Giri, 70, and Sushil Giri, 35, and their driver Nilesh Telgade, 30, were dragged out of their vehicle near Gadhchinchale village and beaten to death by a mob, on suspicion that they were child abductors. The victims were travelling from Mumbai to Surat to attend a funeral.