Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday called up Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and urged him to take stringent action against those involved in the killing of two sadhus (mendicants) in Bulandshahr earlier in the day.
“I called up the UP CM and expressed concern over the brutal killings today. We are all with the (Uttar Pradesh) government in tackling such heinous crimes,” said Thackeray.
He pointed out that on April 16, a similar incident of two sadhus and their driver being lynched had taken place in Palghar in which the Maharashtra government had initiated strong action.
“We are hoping that you will follow suit and give the strongest punishment to the accused in the (Bulandshahr) incident,” Thackeray said.
The Chief Minister said he had also appealed to his Uttar Pradesh counterpart that “nobody should attempt to give the (Bulandshahr) incident any communal overtones”.
It may be recalled that four days after the Palghar mob-lynching case, a pertrubed Adityanath had called up Thackeray and demanded action against the perpetrators of the crime against the sadhus, belonging to a Varanasi ashram.
Thackeray had assured prompt action in the matter and subsequently, around 110 accused villagers — including the five masterminds — have been arrested in the case till date.
On April 20, Union Home Minister also spoke with Thackeray after which the state government had handed over the mob-lynching case to the Crime Investigation Department (CID) which is now probing the case.
