Palghar lynching: BJP MLA Ram Kadam detained ahead of protest march

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BJP MLA Ram Kadam and his supporters were detained in Mumbai on Wednesday when they were planning to take out a march to Palghar over their demand for a CBI probe into the lynching of three persons there in April this year, a police official said. The Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is at present conducting an investigation into the case.

With placards and banners in their hands, Kadam's supporters were planning to travel to neighbouring Palghar to light diyas at the place where two monks and their driver were lynched by a mob in April, and seek a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the incident. However, before Kadam and his supporters could start their 'Jan Aakrosh yatra', the police reached near the MLA's residence in suburan Khar and he was detained, a senior police official said.

"We have detained MLA Kadam and his supporters and brought them to Khar police station," the official said. Palghar Superintendent of Police Dattatreya Shinde said the Kasa police in the district had earlier served a prohibitory notice to Kadam, but despite that he and his supporters tried to go ahead with the yatra, hence they were detained in Mumbai.

Their visit could give rise to law and order issues and disturb the peace, hence the notice was issued, he said. On April 16, two monks and their driver, who were heading towards Surat from Mumbai in a car, were beaten to death by a mob in Palghar's Gadchinchlale village on suspicion that they were child-lifters.

Over 180 people have so far been arrested and 11 juveniles detained in connection with the incident, according to police.