Maharashtra's Sangli police have so far arrested 12 persons in connection with the case of assault on Sadhus. The police are likely to submit their charge sheet by next month in the case, officials said. The police had registered a case of rioting after a group of four sadhus were allegedly assaulted by a mob in Sangli district in Maharashtra on suspicion of being child lifters.
The incident took place on the morning of September 13 at Lavanga village in Jat taluka, within the jurisdiction of Umadi police station, wherein a group of Sadhus were attacked by 20 people as they suspected the victims to be child-lifters.
Hailing from Uttar Pradesh, the sadhus were heading towards the temple town of Pandharpur from Karnataka in a car. Though the sadhus, who were assaulted, had not complained to the police, the suo-motu action was taken based on the viral videos of the incident.
"So far we have arrested 12 persons for their involvement in the case. The people arrested were identified based on viral videos. Also, the person who was seen in the videos assaulting a sadhu with a belt was among the 12 persons arrested. We have seized a belt that was used in the crime. Four to five more people are still wanted in the case and efforts are on to trace and nab them as well. We are looking forward to submitting the charge sheet in the case by next month," said inspector Satish Shinde from the Local Crime Branch in Sangli.
A similar incident had taken place in Palghar in 2020 in which three victims, including two sadhus and their driver, were beaten to death by the mob on suspicions that they were thieves.
