The victims were travelling in a van. (Express Photo by Deepak Joshi) The victims were travelling in a van. (Express Photo by Deepak Joshi)

Accusing the Opposition of giving communal colour to the Palghar lynching incident, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh Wednesday said that none of the 101 people arrested in connection with the lynching of three men allegedly by a mob of villagers in Palghar district is a Muslim.

“None of the accused arrested in connection with the incident is a Muslim. It is unfortunate that communal politics is being played following the incident,” he said.

Deshmukh took to Twitter to release a list of those arrested saying, “A list of 101 persons arrested in the incident at Palghar is being made public here. Those disruptive congregants who have been constantly trying to paint the incident religiously, must see.”

“Some people are seeing ‘Mungerilal ke haseen sapne’ (pipedream)…it is not the time to play politics, but fight coronavirus collectively,” PTI quoted Deshmukh as saying.

On Tuesday, the Palghar police arrested 101 people and detained nine minors in connection with the case.

A video of the incident that surfaced on Sunday shows a mob dragging the victims out of the police van and assaulting them with sticks and stones. There is also footage of one of the victims holding a policeman’s hand for protection, as they walked towards a vehicle but as the mob rained blows on the man’s head, the policeman is seen shaking him off and turning away to protect himself.

The victims, wearing faded saffron dhotis and kurtas, were identified as two sadhus — Kalpruksh Giri and Chikne Maharaj — from an ashram in Kandivili, who were travelling to Surat to attend a funeral and Nilesh Telgade, the driver of the van.

But the people of Gadchinchle, a tribal village in a remote part of the district, are alleged to have mistaken them for child-kidnappers and organ harvesters.

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