Sadhus, who were mistaken for child lifters, beaten by locals in Maharashtra, 6 in custody

Mumbai: Six people have been arrested for assaulting four Sadhus, who were suspected of being child lifters, in Maharashtra's Sangli district. A video that went viral has shown a mob attacking the Sadhus with sticks outside a grocery store at Lavana village while many people are seen witnessing the assault.

The incident happened on Tuesday.

As per the reports, the Sadhus from Uttar Pradesh were mistaken to be members of a gang of child lifters by locals when they asked a boy for directions to the temple town of Pandharpur from Karnataka's Bijapur.

The questioning of the locals slipped into an argument with the Sadhus, who were, later, subjected to bear the cane beating.

The police found that the sadhus were the members of an 'akhada' in Uttar Pradesh, it said.

Maharashtra BJP MLA Ram Kadam condemned the incident and said the state government will not tolerate such "misbehaviour" with the sadhus. Strict action will be taken against the accused, he said in a video message.

"In the sadhus killing case in Palghar, then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's government meted out injustice to them. But the current Maharashtra government will not allow any injustice against any sadhu," he said referring to the 2020 incident.

"There was an argument. It escalated quickly and the sadhus were allegedly beaten up with sticks by locals," the official said.

With PTI input