The Maharashtra government has informed the Supreme Court that the probe pertaining to the Palghar lynching case in which two Hindu sadhus of Juna Akhada were killed, will be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), media reports said.

In April 2020, a frenzied mob lynched the two seers in the satellite town of Palghar, 100 km from Mumbai.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasima wrapped up a string of petitions seeking a CBI probe after recording the state government’s submission.

Advocate Siddharth Dharmadhikari on behalf of the Eknath Shinde government informed the court that it has decided on its own to hand over the investigation to CBI.

This comes a month after the SC the top court observed that the state government should write on its own to the Centre for a CBI probe into the incident in view of the state’s willingness to let the federal agency take over the probe.

“A decision has been taken by the state government to entrust this investigation to CBI. In view of this statement, no further directions are required at this stage. All pending petitions are disposed of,” said the bench in its brief order, HT reported.

Earlier, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government led by Uddhav Thackeray in July 2020 had opposed the petitions demanding a CBI probe in the case.

However, the new government headed by Eknath Shinde said it has no objection to the central agency taking over the probe and the prosecution.