23 held after 5 'child-lifters' lynched; Maha CM announces aid

Twenty-three people were arrested in connection with the lynching of five people by a mob in Dhule district of Maharashtra over suspicion that they were members of a gang of "child-lifters", a senior police officer said today.

A day after the incident, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each for the kin of the deceased.

Dismissing allegations that the police were slow to act, Fadnavis said the men in uniform moved swiftly after they were informed about the incident.

"We have arrested 23 people in connection with the incident. A few more have been identified and five teams have been formed to nab them," Dhule Superintendent of Police (SP) M Ramkumar told PTI.

The incident took place yesterday and all the five victims were identified, the IPS officer said.

"All the deceased hailed from Solapur and belonged to a nomadic community. They had come in search of livelihood due to a drought-like situation in their district," he added.

Those arrested have been booked under IPC section 302 (murder) and the sections pertaining to rioting.

The incident took place at the tribal hamlet of Rainpada, 25 km from Pimpalner in Dhule district, the police said.

The five victims, along with a few others, were seen getting off a state transport bus at Rainpada, they added.

When one of them apparently tried to speak to a six-year-old girl, the villagers, who had gathered there for the weekly Sunday market, pounced on them, thrashing them with stones, sticks and chappals.

According to the police, rumours that a gang of child-lifters was active in the area were doing the rounds of social media.

Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan alleged that the incident was a result of the "inefficiency" of the BJP-led state government and the police administration.

Meanwhile, video clips of the purported incident, aired by some TV channels, showed the victims being thrashed with slippers, before being dragged to the Rainpada gram panchayat office, where they were beaten up with sticks.

Minors were also seen punching, kicking and dragging the victims by their collars.

In one of the clips, a victim was seen pleading for help, while the bloodied bodies of the other four were lying on the floor.

Earlier this month, two persons were lynched at Chandgaon village in Vajipur taluka of Aurangabad on suspicion of being robbers.

Similar cases have also been reported from various other states, including Assam, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Telangana, in the recent past.

The deceased in the Dhule incident were identified as Bharat Malve (46), Dada Shankar Bhosale (35), Bharat Bhosale (48), Appasaheb Shinde (22) and Rajendra Bhosale (44) -- all residents of Khave village in Solapur district -- a police official said.

The relatives of the deceased initially refused to take possession of the bodies after the post-mortem today, demanding a financial assistance of Rs 25 lakh and footing for the expenses for transporting the bodies to their village.

However, they relented after the chief minister announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each for the kin of the victims.

"It is a very painful incident. The way five people were killed merely on the basis of suspicion is unfortunate and cruel. The police have acted swiftly and the people (involved in the incident) are being arrested. We are going to give a compensation of Rs 5 lakh (each) to the kin of the deceased," the chief minister said.

Fadnavis, who also holds the Home portfolio, said the police moved swiftly the moment the Panchayat Samiti chairman called up, informing them about the incident.

"But the place (where the incident occurred) was 35-40 km away (from the police station) and by the time the police could reach the spot, the incident had already occurred. The government will try to ensure that such incidents do not happen in the future," he added.

Stating that he had instructed the police to take action against those spreading such rumours, the chief minister said, "It is wrong for the people to take law and order in their hands. And therefore, strict action will be taken in this case."