4 Dalit men hung upside down, stripped, assaulted on suspicion of theft

Ahmednagar: Four Dalit men were allegedly stripped, urinated upon, hung upside down from a tree, and brutally assaulted with sticks on suspicion of stealing goats and pigeons of a local farmer in Haregaon village of Maharashtra's Ahmednagar, police said on Sunday.

The incident took place on August 25, when a group of six persons from the village allegedly went to the homes of the four Dalit activists of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), and forced them to accompany them, an official said.

The accused have been identified as Yuvraj Galande, Manoj Bodake, Pappu Parkhe, Deepak Gaikwad, Durgesh Vaidya, and Raju Borage. One of them allegedly shot a video of the attack, which later surfaced on social media, the official said.

Taking serious note of the incident, VBA President Prakash Ambedkar called up his party workers and spoke to one of the victims and his family.

"The victims in the caste atrocity case are shaken and pleading for justice. I spoke to one of them and his grandmother, and the VBA and I will do everything to ensure justice," he said.

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole said the incident was a blot on humanity, and demanded that all the accused be arrested immediately and given strict punishment. "Such incidents are a result of hate being spread by BJP for its political gain," he alleged.

The police have detained one person so far, while five others are still at large and the police have formed teams to track them.

The injured youth were taken to a local hospital and later one of them, Shubham Mogade filed a police complaint on Saturday.

The police have registered an FIR under sections 307 (attempt to murder), 364 (kidnapping), and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Further probe is underway, police said.

With inputs from agencies