india

Updated: Apr 29, 2020 14:20 IST

Three more policemen have been suspended in connection with lynching of three people, including two sadhus, in Maharashtra’s Palghar district, news agency ANI reported.

“An Assistant sub-inspector and two head constables of Kasa police station have been suspended in Palghar lynching case. Two police inspectors have already been suspended in the case. Thirty cops were transferred yesterday,” ANI reported quoting a statement from Palghar Police.

Two sadhus and their driver were lynched by a huge mob outside Gadhchinchale village, 110 kilometre from Palghar in Maharashtra on April 16. They were attacked on the suspicion of being child-lifters.

It later emerged that the sadhus - 70-year-old Swami Kalpvriksha Giri and 35-year-old Sushil Giri - belonged to Varanasi-based Juna Akhara and were on their way to Gujarat to attend the last rite of their guru Mahant Shri Ram Giri.

Palghar Police have arrested around 110 people, including nine juveniles in connection with the mob lynching.

Asserting that nobody involved in the Palghar mob lynching incident would be spared, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced a high-level probe by Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

A petition has been filed in the Bombay High Court seeking to transfer the investigation into the Palghar incident to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The petition, filed by Mumbai-based lawyer Ghanshyam Upadhyay, also sought directions to the central government and Palghar SP to submit a report to the NIA with a view to enabling the agency to make a decision about taking over the investigation.