An eyewitness has said the local BJP sarpanch did all she could to stop mob lynching | Photo Credit: Times Now

Key Highlights The Congress has been alleging that Palghar is the bastion of the BJP and the party did nothing to stop the mob lynching Maharashtra CM and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has urged everyone to not communalise the incident

Palghar: Amid the political potshots between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its political rivals over the Palghar mob lynching incident, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, who is also an eyewitness to the incident, on Tuesday urged all the parties to stop giving it political and communal colour.

NCP's Kashinath Choudhary, a local leader in Palghar district, revealed that the sarpanch of Gadchinchle village was present during the time of the incident and tried her best to stop the violence.

Narrating the incident, Choudhary said that after receiving a call for help in rescuing the three men - Shushil Giri, 35, Chikne Maharaj, 70, and Nilesh Tilghate, 30, — he rushed to the Kasa police station around 10:15 pm.

"We immediately left for the site of the attack in three police vehicles and my car. The roads leading to the spot were blocked with stones and tree branches at every 400 metres. I convinced the tribals to let us pass," he said.

The NCP zilla parishad further added that BJP's village sarpanch Chitra Choudhary was already present at the incident site when he reached there. The sarpanch tried her best to stop the violence but the mob was so violent, it could not be stopped, he added.

Kashinath Choudhary then urged all the political parties and leaders to stop communalising and politicising the brutal killing of three men.

Choudhary's comments have come in the wake of Congress leader Sachin Sawant's attack at the BJP. He has accused the saffron party of trying to give "religious colour" to the incident.

"The BJP is trying to politicise this incident by giving it a religious colour and the party should be ashamed of itself. It is a serious matter that those who could not handle many such (lynching) incidents in the state or in the country for the past five years are now trying to exploit it for petty gains," said Sawant.

Earlier in April 16, the two sadhus and their driver, proceeding from Nashik to Surat, were lynched by a 200-strong mob in Gadchinchle village amid rumours that they were child kidnappers.