Case of mistaken identity: Sadhus suspected to be 'child lifters' beaten up by locals

Mumbai, Sep 13: A group of sadhus, on their way to a temple town, wouldn't have known that asking a child for directions would lead to such a horror tale for them. This all began when a group of four sadhus from Uttar Pradesh stopped midway and asked a boy for the route to the town they were heading to.

The sadhus had come from Mathura and they were on the way to 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 the boy for directions. The locals saw this and mistook them for a 'gang of child lifters', according to a report in The Times of India.

They raised an alarm and there was a heated argument which soon turned into an assault on the sadhus, according to the report. The video of the incident has gone viral on the internet since then.

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

The monks reportedly showed their Aadhaar cards to clear the villagers' doubts. It was revealed that they were members of 'akhada' in Uttar Pradesh.

A police team reached the spot and found that the sadhus were indeed members of an akhada' in Uttar Pradesh, he said.

The sadhus, however, have not lodged any complaint over the incident.

Meanwhile, the police took suo-moto cognisance of it and registered a case against 18 to 20 people, an official said on Wednesday. The police have detained six persons in connection with the incident