SC to examine Palghar chargesheets, asks Maharashtra govt to submit details of probe

The Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up the Maharashtra government over their lackadaisical investigation in the Palghar lynching case of April this year in which two sadhus in Palghar were lynched to death by a mob, several videos of which had gone viral on social media.

The division bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and R. Subhash Reddy asked the Maharashtra Police to explain what action had been taken against the police officials who have been said to have played a part in the lynching. The bench also asked the State government to file copies of the charge sheets in the case before the Court along with the details of the investigation conducted so far in the case.

This is the second time in two days that the apex court has sought investigation details of an ongoing case from the Maharashtra government, despite the State contending that everything was being done in accordance with the law.

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Third charge sheet expected by Monday

The Maharashtra government told the Supreme Court that two charge sheets have been filed in the case so far and that a third charge sheet is expected to be filed by Monday. According to the State, it is going to be the third charge sheet which will deal with the details of the alleged attack on policemen when they went to arrest the accused persons. “It is not directly about the lynching,” the State said.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta stated that it should be left up to the Supreme Court to decide whether or not the course of investigation has been relevant.

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Counsel for the Juna Akhara, Advocate Ashutosh Lohia also told the Supreme Court that the State had said before the Bombay High Court that the hearing should be adjourned sine die (with no specific date for hearing) since the case was before the Supreme Court, while the petitioner sought a court-monitored CBI probe into the case.

One week’s time has been granted to the State to put on record the copies of all three charge sheets along with the details of the investigation done so far for the Court’s perusal.

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