Willing to transfer Palghar lynching probe to CBI: Maharashtra to Supreme Court

The Maharashtra government has informed the Supreme Court that it is ready and willing to transfer the investigation into the Palghar lynching case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). [Shashank Shekhar Jha v Union of India & Anr.].The State government made the statement on an additional affidavit filed by it before the top court on a plea which sought the transfer of the investigation into the incident in which three people including two Sadhus, Maharaj Kalpavriksha Giri and Shri Sushil Giri Maharaj, were killed by a mob in Maharashtra in April 2020. "...the State of Maharashtra is ready and willing to hand over the investigation to the CBI and would have no objection for the same," the affidavit stated. .The lynching incident took place on the night of April 16 in the Palghar district of Maharashtra, when two ascetics were travelling along with a driver to Gujarat in order to attend a funeral.The three individuals were lynched by a mob who allegedly suspected them to be child kidnappers after they reached Gadchinchale village in Dahanu taluka. Reportedly, a group of 4 policemen reached the spot after the Kasa Police Station received phone calls..Subsequently, Hindu Sadhus of the Shri Panch Dashnam Juna Akhara and relatives of the two deceased priests approached the Supreme Court seeking a CBI investigation into the killing, claiming it was not possible for the Maharashtra CID to conduct a free and fair probe in the case. Another plea was filed seeking a National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into the case.The plea moved by the Akhara stated that even if the Maharashtra CID conducts and concludes its investigation, “the doubt over the credibility, fairness and impartiality of the investigation will be omnipresent” and that the “investigation would always remain tainted and biased.”The petitioners also prayed for the Court to pass directions so that the land where the two Sadhus were lynched be allotted to the Akhara for a memorial to be built in memory of the deceased priests..In August 2020, the Supreme Court asked the Maharashtra government to produce the chargesheets filed so far in the case within three weeks.The Maharashtra Police later informed the Supreme Court that 18 police officers have been punished after a departmental inquiry was initiated into the incident.