VHP writes to President Kovind, seeks probe in Palghar incident

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 1

Terming the Palghar incident a “premeditated conspiracy”, the RSS affiliate Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Friday wrote to President Ram Nath Kovind, seeking a probe by a Central investigating agency into the matter.

The VHP said, “It was premeditated conspiracy to terrorise Hindus in the area to facilitate anti-Hindu activities.”

The organisation accused Uddhav Thakeray-led Maharashtra government of “not taking the matter seriously” and “trying to cover up the failure and inaction of the police in protecting the victims”.

VHP alleged that local residents of the area were sure that “it is not a crime committed under any misunderstanding but a planned murder because they were Hindu sanyasis”.

“A large scale anti-Hindu propaganda is being carried on in the area by some non-political and political leftist organisations, like the Communist Party of India, Marxist (CPM) and Christian missionaries, operating in the area and carrying on proselytising activities,” read the letter signed by VHP president VS Kokje and secretary general Milind Parande.

“They naturally consider Hindu sanyasis and social workers as the main hurdle in their way. For decades the area has seen anti Hindu activities,” it added.

“The local MLA belongs to CPM which has a sizeable following in the taluka. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has also a sizeable following in the area and gets support from the Christian missionaries against the parties like BJP and Shiv Sena,” the VHP pointed.

Also read: SC seeks status report on Palghar lynching probe

According to the two senior VHP leaders, “The possibility of involvement of these elements in the mob lynching cannot be ruled out under the circumstances.”

“The state government, however, seems to be in a great hurry to explain away the incident on the excuse of a false rumour. As such, it has not ordered any judicial inquiry into the incident. A police officer has been asked to inquire into the matter. Kingpins of murderous mob are still at large,” read the letter.

“In the FIR it has been alleged that the mob lynching was carried out in furtherance of a conspiracy. The state machinery was trying to suppress the truth by giving false excuses. Murder of three innocent persons by armed mob in the presence of policemen is a serious matter but the State of Maharashtra is treating it as just ordinary crime committed due to a misunderstanding,” it added.

The VHP claimed that till date main leaders of the murderous mob had not been arrested and efforts were being made to belittle the incident for political considerations and to save the administration from ignominy.

“Only departmental action has been initiated against the policemen and no crime has been registered against them despite the fact that in the videos related to the incident the policemen are seen virtually handing over the victims to the mob,” VHP leaders mentioned.

“Speedy and impartial investigation of the matter and speedy and efficient prosecution of the case is needed to get the culprits punished as early as possible to restore the confidence of Hindus of the country at large and of the area in particular in the law enforcement agencies,” they said.

Addressing the RSS cadres recently, Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat had also called it the responsibility of the state government to maintain law and order.

“Sanyasis who pray for the wellbeing of humanity were brutally killed in Palghar. What were the police doing? Such an incident should not have happened,” Bhagwat had said.

Two sadhus and the driver of the vehicle they were travelling in were lynched by a mob at Gadchinchale village in Palghar district of Maharashtra on April 16 while they were on their way to attend a funeral in Gujarat.

While as per the local administration, the victims were misunderstood as child lifters, VHP said, “Not a single incident of kidnapping was reported from the area and it was not possible that a large number of people would be incensed to the extent of gathering in a mob during the night and mercilessly killing three persons in cold blood under the mistaken belief that they were child lifters.”