Four sadhus or religious ascetics were allegedly assaulted by a mob in Maharashtra's Sangli district on Tuesday on suspicion of being child lifters, police said.
The sadhus, however, lodged no complaint over the incident even though its video went viral.
The incident occurred at Lavanga village in Jat tehsil when the four men who hail from Uttar Pradesh were heading towards the temple town of Pandharpur from Bijapur in Karnataka in a car.
They had halted at a temple in the village on Monday. While resuming the journey on Tuesday, they asked a boy for directions, said a police official.
This led some locals to suspect that they were part of criminal gangs which abduct children.
"There was an argument. It escalated quickly and the sadhus were allegedly beaten up with sticks by the locals," the official said.
He said a police team reached the spot and found that the sadhus were indeed members of an `akhada' in Uttar Pradesh.
This was not the first time when a religious ascetic's or a godman's name got associated with something as deplorable as sexual abuse or trafficking in India. From Dera Saccha Sauda's Guru Ram Rahim to the Karnataka's Lingayat seer Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru- we have seen multiple incidents so far.
Karnataka Lingayat pontiff arrested for sexual abuse
Recently, a prominent Lingayat seer in Karnataka arrested for sexual abuse was on Friday sent to four days of police custody.
Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru, the chief pontiff of Murugha Math, was arrested on Thursday night for the sexual abuse of two minor girls. He was produced in court on Friday, which sent him to police custody till September 5.
Following his arrest, 64-year-old Sharanaru was sent to jail in the early hours of Friday where he developed health complications. He was taken to the district hospital where medical tests were conducted. The medical team which examined him was contemplating to shift him to Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research in Bengaluru for treatment, sources said.
Sharanaru has been booked under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act for allegedly sexually abusing two high school girls, studying in a school run by the Math and staying in hostel also belonging to it.
(Inputs from PTI)
