Meanwhile, six of the eight involved in the incident, in which Bapu Bhikhan Shirsat, 30, was tied to an electric pole and beaten to death, were arrested. The police expressed confidence that the others would be held soon. All eight accused are neighbours of the girl in question. According to the police and the girl's family members, Shirsat had been trying to get friendly with the girl in question for some time now.

The girl also asserted that she did not attempt to stop the mob from beating up the youth. ``He has been harassing me for so long now and deserved this'', she said. The girl's parents are in hospital and she was reportedly alone in the house with her sister when Shirshat allegedly tried to break in. Additional Commissioner (Range I) C H Surendra Prasad said, ``There seems to be no reason to believe the girl and the youth were involved with each other. It is a case of the public bashing up a man who wanted to molest a girl''.

All the six people arrested -- Ratilal Dashrath Patil (35), Shravan Pandit Suthar (32), Deepak Patil alias Narayan Patil (21), Narayan Baburao Patil (53), Amanda Vana Patil (25) and Sanjay Sahebrao Patil (25) -- have confessed to being involved in the lynching.