A total of 53 persons accused in the Palghar lynching case were granted bail by the special court here on Thursday.Earlier, the court had granted bail to four of the accused, taking the total number of accused released on bail to 57 out of 201 arrested so far.
The District Judge at the Special Court P P Jadhav in his order granted them bail with surety of Rs 15,000 each.The bail application for the other accused will be decided now on December 5, the court stated.Appearing for the accused, Advocates Amrut Adhikari and Atul Patil submitted to the court that the applicants had no role in the April 16 killings of three persons, including two monks.
They were innocent and the police had arrested them on mere suspicion, the lawyer averred, questioning the validity of the three FIRs registered for one crime.Advocate Satish Maneshinde appeared for the prosecution while Advocate P N Ojha appeared for the family of slain monks.The victims Sushil Giri Maharaj (35), Chikane Maharaj Kalpavriksh Giri (70) and Nilesh Telgane (30), the driver of their Ford Ecosport were going to Surat from Mumbai for a funeral during the lockdown in April last.A raging crowd attacked them with sticks, irons rods and fists following rumours that they were involved in the kidnapping of children for extracting their organs, including kidneys.
