The police on Tuesday revealed that eleven of the accused in the horrifying lynching of Hindu sadhus in Palghar have been tested positive for Coronavirus.
About 156 people were arrested in connection with the killing of the two Hindu sadhus who were waylaid by a manic mob of over 400-500 people in Palghar while they were on their journey to Surat and brutally lynched to death on suspicion of being kidnappers on April 16.
According to a police official in Palghar police station, all the accused have been arrested but kept in different police lock-ups as work is underway at the Palghar jail.
About 17 accused held at police lock-up in Wada were tested for the novel coronavirus recently and 11 of them had turned out to be positive for the virus while the reports of the remaining six are still awaited. Those tested positive for COVID-19 had been shifted to a local hospital and their contacts are being traced, said a police official.
Earlier, at least one accused in the case had tested positive for coronavirus. The disclosure was made by Dr Dinkar Gavit, Medical Superintendent of Palghar Rural Hospital. The 55-year-old accused in the Palghar lynching case, who was found to be Corona positive, was held in police custody at the Wada police station. At least 43 people he came in contact so far have been quarantined and tested for the infection. This includes 23 police personnel and 20 other accused.
Palghar Mob Lynching incident
On 16th April 2020, two Sadhus associated with the Juna Akhara, 70-year-old Kalpavrishka Giri Maharaj, and 35-year-old Sushil Giri Maharaj along with their driver 30-year-old Nilesh Telgadewere were on their way from Mumbai to Gujarat to give Samadhi to another Sadhu. At Gadakchinchale village, a wild and frenzied crowd of over more than 100 people attacked them. The villagers deemed them as thieves and started attacking them. The police claim that their team which had rushed to the spot to rescue the 70-year-old man also came under the attack of the violent mob.
But later videos emerged which completely debunked the claim of police, as it was seen that the sadhus were in the custody of the police, but the police personnel handed them over to the mob. The mob then proceeded to beat them to death in front of the policemen.
