The investigation into the Palghar mob lynching , in which three Mumbai residents were lynched to death last week, was on Monday transferred to the Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Meanwhile, two officers with the Palghar Police were suspended on Monday and a departmental enquiry initiated.
Two local religious leaders from Kandivali, who were going to Silvassa in an SUV being driven by a hired driver , were stopped on April 16 and attacked by a mob of over 100 people in the Gadchinchale village in Palghar. With sticks, iron rods and their bare hands, the mob beat the trio to death and also attacked a police team that tried to rescue the victims.
Surge of tweets
On Sunday, a surge of tweets attempted to portray it as a communal incident, even as State Home Minister Anil Deshmukh tweeted from his official account that the victims and the accused belonged to the same religion.
Also read: Anil Deshmukh announces high-level inquiry into Palghar lynching
“We have transferred the case to the State CID and (Additional Director General) Atulchandra Kulkarni has been instructed to personally oversee the investigation,” Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Monday.
Assistant Police Inspector Anandrao Kale and Police Sub Inspector Sudhir Katare with the Kasa police station were also suspended.
Videos examined
“Mr. Kale was in charge of the police station and he and Mr. Katare were found to be prima facie guilty of dereliction of duty. All the videos of the incident that have been doing the rounds of social media are also being examined. We are trying to ascertain whether some of them were doctored to give a communal spin to the case,” an officer with the Palghar Police said.
Also read: No communal angle in Palghar lynching case: Uddhav Thackeray
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Cyber Police have also started tracking all the accounts that have been tweeting or posting content about the case since Sunday. Sources said that a list of all such accounts is being compiled so that action against them can be decided upon based on the seriousness of the content they have been posting.
“We are in touch with the concerned social media platforms to get the objectionable and communally harmful content removed as soon as possible, and punitive action will be taken wherever there are grounds to do so,” a Cyber Police officer said.
