Mumbai, April 19 Three days after a huge mob of villagers lynched three persons near a village in Palghar during lockdown, the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party demanded a high-level probe into the incident.
Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis said that after viewing the visuals that have come out, "the Palghar inident of mob lynching is shocking and inhuman".
"It is more disturbing especially when we are going through such tough times," he said, referring to the lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The victims included two sadhus of the Juna Akhada who were killed besides their vehicle driver, while at least two police vans were damaged and some policemen were injured.
The incident happened late on Thursday, but came to light early Friday morning after the driver alerted the police which rushed there.
"I urged the Maharashtra government to immediately set up a high-level enquiry and ensure that people who are responsible for this are brought to justice at the earliest," Fadnavis said today.
Mumbai BJP general secretary Amarjeet Mishra alleged that while the attacks were on, the police remained mute spectators and urged the government to take immediate action.
"The government should get to the root of the incident... The insensitive policemen must be dismissed", Mishra said.
An aggressive mob of around 200 villagers flouting all lockdown norms, had accosted a vehicle in which the two sadhus were travelling from Nashik to Surat with some relief materials late on Thursday night.
Suspecting them to be thieves, the crowd started questioning them, abused and then assaulted them brutally with sticks, rods and stones.
When the police team reached the spot and took them to their van, the crowds swooped on the police van and continued to assault them till they succumbed.
The victims were later identified as Sushilgiri Maharaj, 30, Chikne Maharaj Kalpavriksha Giri, 70 and their driver Nilesh Telwade, 30.
The Kasa police station lodged a case late on Friday and arrested over 100 persons who are remanded in police custody. Further investigations are underway.
A semi-industrialised centre with mostly tribal population, Palghar is located around 60 km from northwest Mumbai border.
( With inputs from IANS )