Supreme Court Adjourns By Two Weeks Batch Of Pleas Seeking NIA Probe Into Palghar Lynching Case

A Bench headed by Ashok Bhushan directed the State of Maharashtra to file before the Court the second chargesheet and proceeded to adjourn the matter thereafter.

Previously, the Maharashtra Government had submitted to the Supreme Court that action had been taken against the erring policemen and that there was no need to the writ petitions pending.

An Affidavit to this effect had been filed before the Supreme Court with details of punishment meted out to 18 police personnel for their role in being unable to prevent the lynching of the two Sadhus. It was informed that a departmental inquiry had been ordered against the officers who had been found prima facie negligent and in dereliction of their duty. Consequently, the State Police had urged the Court that there was no need for an investigation by a central agency and opposed the plea for the same.

Meanwhile, on January 16, 2021, exactly eight months after the brutal mob lynching a special court in Thane granted bail to 89 people arrested in the case. It had been argued that the 89 accused had been arrested on mere suspicion.

On April 16, two seers travelling from Mumbai to Surat had their car stopped by a mob of over 200 people. This mob then proceeded to upturn the car and pelt stones, eventually resulting in the death of both seers as well as the driver of the car.

Petitions seeking Court-monitored investigation and/or transfer of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) were filed before the Apex Court alleging that the police was complicit in the lynching of the two saints.