Dhule lynching: Key accused arrested from forest hideout near Rainpada; 26th person to be taken in custody

A key accused in the Dhule lynching incident was arrested by the crime branch of the Maharashtra Police on Sunday afternoon, media reports said. According to NDTV , the man has been identified as one Dasrath Pawar.

#Maharashtra: Main accused of Dhule lynching incident (at centre in picture) has been arrested by Local crime branch (LCB) squad. 5 people were lynched to death on suspicion of child theft in Rainpada village of Dhule district on July 1. pic.twitter.com/R13AlJGFZ5

— ANI (@ANI) July 8, 2018

A team of officers traced the accused to a hideout in the forests near the Warsa village, around 60 kilometres from Rainpada, where the incident had taken place, Hindustan Times reported. This is the 26th arrest in the case.

On 5 July, the police had arrested the main accused in the case of the lynching of five men by a mob in the district on suspicion of child lifting, an official said on Thursday.

Maharu Pawar, 22, was arrested from the neighbouring Nandurbar district, Dhule superintendent of police M Ramkumar told PTI. Pawar was absconding since the incident took place on Sunday and hiding in Nandurbar, he said. “Our team was searching for him and was able to nab him,” he said.

A day after the Dhule lynching incident, Maharashtra DGP Datta Padsalgikar had appealed to people to not believe in rumours .

On 1 July, five people belonging to a nomadic community were allegedly lynched by a mob  on suspicion that they were members of a gang of “child-lifters”. The five, along with a few others, were seen getting down from a state transport bus in the tribal Rainpada hamlet, police said.

When one of them apparently tried to speak to a girl child, villagers, who had gathered for the weekly Sunday bazaar, pounced on them, they said.

With inputs from PTI