Police Arrest Linchpin of Mob That Killed 5 Men in Dhule

The Maharashtra Police on Thursday, 5 July, said that they had arrested the alleged linchpin of the mob that lynched five men of a nomadic tribe in Dhule, Maharashtra, on the suspicion that they were child-lifters.

Dhule SP Ramkumar told PTI that the police arrested 22-year-old Maharu Pawar from the neighbouring Nandurbar district on Wednesday, 4 July.

Ramkumar added that Pawar went into hiding in Nandurbar after the incident. "Our team was searching for him and was able to nab him," he said.

In a video of the incident, now going viral on social media, Pawar was seen leading the mob and thrashing five men with sticks and rods, the SP said.

Videos of the incident also show that one of the five victims tried to talk to a six-year-old girl. The mob, perceiving the five men to be child-lifters, charged on them with sticks, rods and chappals.

A rumour, upon which the deadly mob acted, was rife on social media that a few child-lifters were active in the area.

According to police officials and locals, the victims were first attacked by a group of "highly inebriated" people in Kakar pada, a village adjoining Rainpada, in Dhule district and were brought here while being continuously thrashed along the one-km stretch.

The police also said that the mob wanted to set the bodies of victims on fire on the spot.

The victims belonged to the nomadic Nath Gosavi community that moves from place to place in Maharashtra in search of food and work.

Whenever people from this community visit a village, they report to the local police station about their stay.

Incidents of lynching triggered by rumours claimed 10 lives in 14 incidents in Maharashtra during the last one-and-a-half months, the police had earlier said.

In the wake of the horrific crime, the police decided to compile data of lynchings so as to devise a preventive strategy, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Bipin Bihari had said.

(With inputs from PTI)