Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) Ram Kadam and his supporters were detained by the Mumbai Police on Wednesday morning, outside his Khar residence, just as they were ready to begin their Jan Aakrosh Yatra to Palghar. This yatra, which was aimed to demand a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Palghar lynching case, was stopped by the police as no prior permission was given and it could have led to a law and order situation. The detainees were, however, later released after a couple of hours.
According to police sources, Kadam and his supporters did not have any prior permission for the protest march they had planned to take to Palghar and demand a probe by the CBI in the case where two monks and their driver was lynched by a mob earlier in April this year based on the suspicion that they were child lifters.
Palghar's Kasa police had earlier served a prohibitory notice to Kadam, but he and his supporters tried to go ahead with the yatra anyway. In a bid to avert any law and order situation, there was a heavy police deployment outside Kadam's Khar since Wednesday morning, where a number of BJP workers had gathered with placards and banners to begin the march. Subsequently, Kadam and his supporters were detained by Mumbai Police as the Maharashtra government stopped them marching a protest to the Palghar murders' site.
A senior official said that the BJP MLA was detained along with his supporters and brought to Khar police station in buses. The detainees were, however, released after issuing them notice and telling them not to take any protest march at Palghar as the Maharashtra Crime Investigation Department (CID) is already probing the case and over 180 people have been arrested and 11 juveniles detained in connection with the incident. Former chief minister and BJP Member of the Parliament (MP) Narayan Rane also made a strong case for CBI inquiry into Palghar mob lynching case.
On the other hand, Congress has attacked BJP on raking up the Palghar mob lynching incident. The Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman Sachin Sawant alleged that BJP’s demand for a CBI probe was to save the accused affiliated to it. “BJP has been demanding a CBI probe seven months after the judicial process in the Palghar case. The Maha Vikas Aghadi government has been handling the case very seriously. So far, the police have arrested 229; 154 in connection with the killing of sadhus and 75 for the violation of prohibitory orders,’’ he added.
