Palghar lynching: 28 accused get bail as CID yet to gather evidence

PALGHAR: The Dahanu court on Monday granted default bail to 28 accused in the Palghar lynching case as the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is yet to collect evidence against them.

However, only 10 will be released on bail, as the other 18 accused are named in the third charge sheet filed by CID on August 6, which includes names of 47 accused.

On April 16, Chikne Maharaj Kalpavrukshagiri, 70, Sushilgiri Maharaj, 35, and Nilesh Telgade, 30, were killed when a mob of locals attacked them at Gadchinchale, approximately 140 kilometres from Mumbai.

The trio was on their way to Surat and Telgade had been driving the car. Five police personnel were also injured in the attack.

According to CID, the lynching was a result of some rumours that were circulated on Whatsapp, which warned against a group of organ and child traffickers passing through the area.

The gathered mob had mistaken the two travellers and their driver to be traffickers.

“We had the right to apply for default bail, as it was a clear case of illegal detention. All the accused were in judicial custody and were lodged in Thane, Taloja, Palghar, Boisar and Wada jails for more than 90 days,” said Amrut Adhikari, counsel for the accused.

RB Walvi, public prosecutor, opposed the bail citing that the CID was gathering evidence against the accused in the case.

However, judicial magistrate MV Jawale granted bail to the accused on a personal surety bond of ₹30,000 each.

“We will also apply for bail before the Thane court for the remaining accused next week,” said Adhikari.

So far, 226 witnesses have been interrogated and over 808 suspects were detained, mentioned the charge sheet. The state CID had last week filed a report before the Juvenile Justice Board, Bhiwandi against two juveniles arrested in the April 16 lynching case. “Though there are 11 juveniles involved in the case, we have filed a charge sheet against only two of them. Another charge sheet will be filed against the remaining nine after collecting evidence,” said an officer.