11 accused in Palghar mob lynching case contract COVID-19

Palghar, June 16

Eleven of the accused in the Palghar lynching case, in Maharashtra, have tested positive for COVID-19, the police said on Tuesday.

A total of 156 persons were arrested after two monks on the way to Surat from Mumbai in a car were beaten to death along with their driver on April 16 by a mob at Gadchinchale village in the district on suspicion that they were thieves.

All accused had been remanded in judicial custody but lodged in various police lock-ups as work is going on at Palghar jail, said an official of the Palghar police station.

The 17 accused, who were kept at police lock-up at Wada, were tested recently and 11 turned out to be positive for the virus while results of six others were yet to be received, he said.

Those who tested positive were shifted to local hospitals and their contacts are being traced, he said.

Earlier, at least two of the arrested accused in the case had tested positive for virus. PTI