Sangli: Four sadhus were allegedly assaulted by a mob in Maharashtra’s Sangli district on suspicion of being child-lifters, police said.
The sadhus (religious ascetics), however, lodged no complaint over the incident which took place on Tuesday, even as its video went viral.
The incident took place at Lavanga village in Jat tehsil when the four men hailing from Uttar Pradesh were heading towards the temple town of Pandharpur from Bijapur in Karnataka in a car.
महाराष्ट्र के सांगली में बच्चा चोरी की अफवाह पर लोगों ने साधू-संतों की पिटाई कर डाली..
पालघर जैसा कांड होते-होते बचा..#Sangli #Maharashtra @CMOMaharashtra @DGPMaharashtra pic.twitter.com/tcWRHMrwgL
— Vivek Gupta (@imvivekgupta) September 14, 2022
They had halted at a temple in the village on Monday. While resuming the journey on Tuesday, they asked a boy for directions, a police official said.
This led some locals to suspect that they were part of criminal gangs which abduct children.
पंढरपुर में देव दर्शन के लिए जा रहे मथुरा के 4 साधुओं को बच्चा चोर समझकर महाराष्ट्र के सांगली में लाठी डंडों से जमकर पीटा गया.
Full Story Live @TV9Bharatvarsh pic.twitter.com/FTZmoE2UCy
— Samir Abbas (@TheSamirAbbas) September 14, 2022
“There was an argument. It escalated quickly and the sadhus were allegedly beaten up with sticks by locals,” the official said.
Four Sadhus have been brutally attacked by the villagers in Sangli, Maharashtra#MaharashtraNews #SadhusAttacked pic.twitter.com/BZ3gQnt4yK
— Neeraj Chauhan (@chauhanrneeraj) September 14, 2022
A police team reached the spot and found the sadhus were members of an ‘akhada’ in Uttar Pradesh, he said.
