Four nabbed from Pune for stripping, beating Dalit youth in Ahmednagar

The district police have nabbed four of the six accused who allegedly stripped, spat and assaulted four Dalit youth in Ahmednagar, all workers of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), activists said here on Monday.

The accused had fled to Pune district after the shocking incident came to light on Sunday, sparking a furore, said Ahmednagar VBA President Vishal Kolge.

They arrested accused have been identified as Yuvraj Galande, Manoj Borake, Deepak Gaikwad and Durgesh Vaidya, while the kingpin Nanasaheb Galande, a local money-lender and land-grabber, is still at large, according to Kolge.

VBA President Prakash Ambedkar will arrive in Ahmednagar’s Haregaon village – where the incident occurred – and take out a protest rally on September 1.

The four Dalit VBA workers, including two students and one minor, were allegedly stripped, urinated upon, hung from a tree and brutally assaulted on rumours of stealing goats and pigeons at Haregaon village in Shrirampur last Friday.

They were hung upside down from a tree and then repeatedly assaulted with sticks by the six accused persons for the alleged stealing incident that happened at least three months ago, claimed Kolge.

Taking serious note of the incident, 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. The VBA will do everything to ensure justice," said Ambedkar.

VBA Vice President Siddharth Mokle added that Ambedkar will visit the victims' families, offer them all help in the matter, and take out a protest rally on Friday – when the national opposition I.N.D.I.A. alliance will hold its conclave in Mumbai.

The police said the incident came to light as one of the accused shot a video of the incident which later went viral on social media.

In a statement, the VBA said that the assailants allegedly urinated and spat on the victims, stripped them, forced them to lick the spittle, hung them upside down from a tree and then severely beat them up, with the torture going on for more than an hour.

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 invoking sections pertaining to abduction, attempt to murder and atrocities on SC/STs against the accused.