Three Men Lynched in Maharashtra, Two from Nomadic Tribe, BJP Leaders Push Communal Angle

'Three days after the mob lynching of three men in Palghar, Maharashtra, the emergence of video footage of the brutal attack has given the incident a political colour with Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and Hindutva activists on social media using the fact that the victims were Hindu to allege the killings were part of “appeasement politics”. Late evening on April 16, three persons travelling in a Ford EcoSport were attacked by a group of men in Palghar and killed. The Palghar police have claimed that the three persons killed were travelling from Kandivili in western Mumbai to Silvassa and had passed through a village route, where they were stopped and attacked by over 70-80 persons.

The accused, the police say, are all local adivasis from Vikramgad taluka in Palghar district. The Kasa police station investigating the incident has claimed that the victims were attacked after the local villagers mistook them for “thieves”. Of the three deceased persons, two persons—70- year old Kalpvrush Giri and 35- year old Sushil Giri—belonged to a Gosavi Nomadic Tribe and were affiliated to one ‘Shri Panch Dashnam Juna Akhaara’ in Varanasi. The third person, identified as Nilesh Telgade, was the driver of the car. The trio were travelling from Kandivili to Silvassa to attend a funeral and had to change routes from the national highway to smaller, inner lanes passing by a village since the district exits have been sealed due to COVID- 19...'

[Continue reading on The Wire.]