Maharashtra: Dhule police arrest 23 in lynching case

DHULE: Dhule police has arrested 23 people, all residents of Rainpada and adjoining villages in the district in connection with the lynching of five people by the mob of more than 5,000 people, on Sunday.
The police have arrested 23 people and had identified nine others on the basis of pictures and video clips of the lynching case in which five people – all hailing from Solapur, were killed by the mob that suspected these five people were child lifters," senior police at Rainpada, taluka Sakri of the district said.
On Sunday the villagers of Rainpada and adjoining villages had gathered in the village for their weekly market – Athawde Bazaar. The rumors about the child lifters on the prowl were thick on social media as well through word of mouth. When the five got down the state transport bus in the village at 12.00 noon on Sunday, the villagers accosted them.
The villagers asked them about their whereabouts in local dialects, but since there was a language problem they were unable to satisfy the villagers’ doubts. This sparked altercation between them and the mob took control of the five, took them to the gram panchayat office and beat them with stones, logs etc. All five died on the spot.
The police took control of the village by evening and at present all the villagers have fled.
"All the villagers – men and women have fled the village. They have taken shelter in the neighbouring villages, and even across the border in Gujarat. We have also dispatched teams to fetch the people, the police said.
On the other hand the relatives of the victims had not accepted the bodies of the victims by Monday afternoon.
"The bodies were kept in Pimpalner Rural Hospital, but the relatives were not ready to accept the bodies of the villagers. They wanted government help in the form of rehabilitation of the family members," the police added.