The Maharashtra government on Monday informed the Supreme Court that the investigation into the lynching of two sadhus at Palghar is complete.
A three-judge Bench led by Justice Ashok Bhushan adjourned the case to February 17. The State government had pressed for the dismissal of the petitions seeking CBI probe into the incident, calling it an attempt to derive “political capital”.
An affidavit by the Maharashtra government had informed the court that a specialised unit of the State CID was probing the case since April 20, 2020.
Maharashtra had said the case was transferred to the State CID unit considering the need for fairness, transparency in investigation and the large number of accused involved.
In an earlier hearing, the State had informed the Supreme Court that 18 police officers were punished for negligence and dereliction of duty for their inability to prevent the lynching.
A short affidavit filed by the police said a departmental inquiry prima facie found that they did not act in time to prevent the incident.
The punishment of the 18 officers had ranged from dismissal to reverting to minimal pay for a specific number of years and even compulsory retirement.
