The Maharashtra government on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it had no objection if the 2020 Palghar lynching case was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation, Live Law reported.

The state government made the statement in response to petition seeking that the case be handed over to the central agency for an impartial investigation.

“The State of Maharashtra is ready and willing to hand over the investigation in C.R. No. 76/2020 and C.R. No. 77/2020 to the CBI and would have no objection for the same,” the government said.

In October 2020, the state government had opposed the petitions, and had told the court that the police had completed its investigation into the case. The government had also told the court that it had already taken action against the erring personnel.

On April 16, 2020, three Mumbai residents, who were on their way to Silvassa, were lynched by locals in Gadakchinchale village of Palghar district on the suspicion that they were thieves. A large mob of villagers had surrounded the car of the three men and started attacking them with sticks and iron rods, leading to their deaths.

Two of the victims were sadhus from Mumbai’s Kandivali suburb, and the third was their driver.

The Bharatiya Janata Party had at the time attacked the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance government in the state, and accused it of not doing enough to ensure justice in the case. An alliance of the BJP and the faction of the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is currently in power in Maharashtra.