Three men, including two sadhus, lynched in Maharashtra's Palghar;110 arrested

According to police, the victims were residents of Kandivali in Mumbai and were travelling in a Ford Ecosport to Silvassa to attend a funeral, said media reports.

The victims have been identified as Sushil Giri Maharaj (35), Nilesh Telgane (35), the driver of the car they were travelling in, and Chikane Maharaj Kalpavrikshgiri (70).

The trio, including the 70-year-old sadhu, was attacked by people following rumours that they were involved in the kidnapping of children for extracting their organs, including kidneys, said a media report.

According to police, a raging crowd gathered within minutes and started attacking the SUV with sticks, irons rods and fists, said a report.

Another media report stated police have said that the villagers had been on edge over unavailability of several essentials amid the prolonged COVID-19 lockdown and the attack was instigated by social media messages that said thieves and dacoits were targetting villagers on the highways. The sadhus were attacked after villagers mistook them as thieves while patrolling the highway at night, the reports added.

A police team reached the spot and tried to rescue the two sadhus and the driver of the vehicle they were travelling in from the wild mob which seemed hell-bent on killing them. However, the mob attacked them again even after the police rescued them to their vehicle.

In one of the videos available online, the residents of Gadchinchale village can be seen attacking the police team, while another shows the villagers breaking the glass of the police patrol vehicle.

A video posted on Twitter shows, the 70-year-old bleeding sadhu left unprotected in the presence of police and beaten mercilessly by lathis by the mob even as he prays to be spared. A man can be heard calling "Oye, isko maro (Hey, hit him)" instigating others to kill the old man.

District Collector Kailash Shinde said some policemen were also injured in the incident but managed to bring the victims to hospital but all of them succumbed to their injuries.

As many as 110 people have been taken into custody in the incident, he said.

According to media reports, police have said there were rumours about thieves taking advantage of the nationwide lockdown imposed to control the spread of novel coronavirus.

Police are investigating all possible angles behind the brutal and inhuman crime. They feel the attack on the police team indicated that they were intent on killing the trio.

Meanwhile, several people have slammed the police for the brutal killing of the sadhus by a wild mob.