Palghar seer lynching case: Ready to transfer probe to CBI, Maharashtra tells SC

In an affidavit filed in the top court, which is seized of petitions seeking a CBI investigation in the matter, the state said it “would have no objection” in handing over probe in the cases registered over the incident to the central agency.

Two Hindu seers, Maharaj Kalpavriksha Giri @ Chikna Baba and Sushil Giri Maharaj, along with their driver, were lynched to death by a frenzied mob on April 2020. (file)

The Maharashtra government is “ready and willing” to hand over the investigation in the 2020 Palghar mob lynching case to the CBI, it told the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

In an affidavit filed in the top court, which is seized of petitions seeking a CBI investigation in the matter, the state said it “would have no objection” in handing over probe in the cases registered over the incident to the central agency.

Earlier in October 2020, the state government led by then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had opposed the prayer to hand over the case to the CBI, telling the court that it had filed two chargesheets in the case, and, besides compulsorily retiring two personnel, dismissed one.

It had told the court that the salary of 15 others had also been reduced to minimum in connection with the incident.

Two Hindu seers, Maharaj Kalpavriksha Giri @ Chikna Baba and Sushil Giri Maharaj, along with their driver, were lynched to death by a frenzied mob on April 2020 when they were travelling in a car from Kandivali in Mumbai to attend a funeral in Gujarat’s Surat amid the Covid lockdown.

The mob stopped their vehicle and attacked them allegedly in the presence of police personnel.

Questioning the role of the state police, multiple writ petitions filed in the SC following the incident sought a CBI probe into the incident.

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