10 more held in dalit thrashing case

Chandrapur: Jiwti police on Tuesday arrested 10 more people allegedly involved in thrashing of dalits accusing them of practising “black magic” in Wani (Khurd) village.

The police have added sections of Prevention of Atrocities Act-1989 to the charges slapped on the accused belonging to non-scheduled caste and non-scheduled tribe communities.

Police sources informed that 13 accused arrested on Sunday night were produced before the JMFC court on Monday. The court had sent four accused — Santosh Panchal, Amol Shinde, Dadarao Kotambe and Datta Kamble — in police custody for one day, while the remaining were sent in magisterial remand.

The 10 accused arrested on Tuesday include Shashikant Karade, Dinesh Sonkamble, Sahebrao Paud, Keshav Kamble, Manohar Dise, Bhagant Shinde, Vaijnath Shinde, Datta Telang, Vitthal Shinde, and Vitthal Panchal. They were produced before the JMFC court in Rajura and sent in police custody for two days.

The four accused, whose PCR ended on Tuesday, were also produced before the court and sent in MCR.

Four women, who went into alleged spirit possession and named Kamble and Huke families for practising “back magic”, are still under treatment of psychiatrists in Chandrapur GMCH. Their arrest is learnt to be imminent on discharge, if the doctors declare them sane.

Sources informed that more people, including some women from the village, are likely to be arrested.

Additional superintendent of police Atul Kulkarni confirmed atrocity charges being slapped on some non-SC and non-ST accused. He, however, did not give the exact numbers.