Six men are serving at least 25 years for killing four members of a Dalit family in Khairlanji, a village in Maharashtra's Bhandara district, on 29 September 2006, but no court found that caste was the motive. The killings, which only the father, Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange, escaped, drew weeks of Dalit protest over the police response. In late November, after an Ambedkar statue was desecrated in Kanpur, the protests turned violent statewide; trains were burnt and at least three people died. A special court's 2008 death sentences were reduced by the Bombay High Court in 2010, and the Supreme Court upheld that in 2019.
A family friend, a beating and a witness statement
Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange lived on the outskirts of Khairlanji with his wife, two sons and daughter. They were Mahar, a Scheduled Caste Supreme Court judgment.
The trouble, as the Supreme Court traced it, began with Siddharth Gajbhiye, a family friend from Dhusala village. Villagers assaulted him after a wage dispute with one of the later accused. The Bhotmange mother gave a statement identifying the attackers, and they were arrested Supreme Court. Sabrang reported earlier land disputes and threats that police ignored Sabrang.
The evening of 29 September
Documented The men arrested for the Gajbhiye assault were released on bail on 29 September. At about 6.00 to 6.30 pm, according to the Supreme Court, a group of about 40 people surrounded the Bhotmange house, some saying they had been falsely implicated. The mother, her two sons and her daughter were chased, caught and beaten with sticks and bicycle chains until they died. The bodies were taken in a bullock cart and thrown into a canal Supreme Court.
Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange ran to Dhusala, and Gajbhiye telephoned Andhalgaon police station. Bhotmange went to the station that night but, the court records, did not lodge a report because he was "totally frightened". He filed it the next day, by which time police had found his daughter's body in the canal. The case was registered under murder, rioting and conspiracy sections of the IPC and Section 3(1)(x) of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act Supreme Court.
The other three bodies were found on 1 October, and about 18 people were arrested that day Supreme Court. Later totals range from 32 (Sabrang) to 44 (Frontline) Sabrang Frontline.
"Too dark to investigate"
When the local station was told of trouble, Frontline reported, a constable came but said it was too dark to investigate. Bhandara Superintendent of Police Suresh Sagar told the magazine that "no cognisance was taken of the complaint and the local police were lax in conducting an immediate investigation" Frontline. Several policemen were suspended, according to Human Rights Watch, along with doctors who failed to file proper autopsy reports HRW. Frontline reported that the doctor who did the post-mortem was dismissed Frontline.
Claim · Activists and family Activists and the family alleged that the women had also been sexually assaulted and that the first post-mortem was inadequate Frontline. The courts made no such finding; The Hindu reported in 2017 that the allegations "could not be proved in court" The Hindu.
From a Nagpur dharna to Azad Maidan
For a month, Human Rights Watch wrote, the killings "barely registered in the national press" HRW. Protest started in Nagpur. Youth for Social Justice held a dharna near the Ambedkar statue at RBI Chowk from 29 October to 6 November; Sabrang reported that police withdrew permission as crowds grew, and a Nagpur bandh was called on 10 November Sabrang. A "long march" from Nagpur to Khairlanji planned for 12 November was refused permission, and CRPF check posts guarded the village Frontline. More than 4,000 people gathered at Mumbai's Azad Maidan on 19 November Maktoob.
Protesters in Nagpur, Bhandara, Amravati, Kamthee and parts of Mumbai were "lathi-charged, tear-gassed and fired upon", with homes entered and Dalit youth arrested, according to a joint fact-finding by PUDR, PUCL and other groups PUDR.
The Deccan Queen burns
A statue of B R Ambedkar in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, was allegedly vandalised on Wednesday 29 November 2006. Across Maharashtra, protests broke out that night and ran into the next day Rediff.
At Ulhasnagar, in Thane district, a crowd of over 6,000 made passengers leave the Mumbai-Pune Deccan Queen and set five of its coaches on fire. Local train coaches were burnt there and at Matunga yard. Mumbai saw 176 arrests, at least 13 policemen injured and 91 BEST buses damaged. Curfew was imposed in Nanded, Pimpri and Nandurbar Rediff, and lifted everywhere by 1 December UNI.
The death toll depends on the agency. Rediff reported four: two in police firing at Osmanabad, and one each in Nanded and Nashik Rediff. UNI reported three, one in police firing, and 188 injured including 38 policemen UNI via Oneindia.
Khairlanji in five dates
Four killed
A crowd kills four members of the Bhotmange family hours after the accused in the Gajbhiye assault get bail Supreme Court.
Mumbai rally, CBI request
Over 4,000 rally at Azad Maidan Maktoob; state notifies on 20 November that it wants the CBI to take over Supreme Court.
Statewide violence
Kanpur statue desecration sets off protests; Deccan Queen burnt Rediff.
High Court commutes
Death sentences replaced by life with 25 years of actual imprisonment BBC.
Supreme Court ends case
All appeals dismissed Supreme Court.
Was the rioting about Khairlanji?
Protesters' and rights groups' account
Dalit groups called the killings a caste atrocity. The CPI(M) demanded prosecution of "all police officers and doctors concerned who have connived in helping the accused" and condemned Home Minister R R Patil's statement that the protests were driven by extremists Frontline. The PUDR-led report called the response "brute power of the police" PUDR.
Police and government account
Government's position Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said over 2,000 people had been arrested, and said the state had "accepted all the demands of dalit leaders about Khairlanji including giving the investigation to CBI". He denied any link between Khairlanji and the riots UNI. Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil said: "Till we have proof, we cannot say that the violence, including today's train burning incident, was pre-planned." Mumbai Police Commissioner A N Roy hinted the protests could be a fallout of Khairlanji Rediff.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray had his own explanation, blaming "anti- RR Patil" forces for the riots Economic Times.
Caste, or revenge? The verdicts
The CBI charge-sheeted 11 people for murder, rioting and conspiracy under the IPC and under the SC/ST Act. The Special Court at Bhandara convicted eight and acquitted three. Six got death and two got life, but none was found guilty under the SC/ST Act Supreme Court. Sakru Binjewar, Shatrughna Dhande, Vishwanath Dhande, Ramu Dhande, Jagdish Mandlekar and Prabhakar Mandlekar were sentenced to death; Gopal Binjewar and Shishupal Dhande got life Mainstream.
The Bombay High Court bench of Justices A P Lawande and R C Chavan upheld the convictions on 14 July 2010 but held this was not a "rarest of rare" case. "The incident did not take place on account of caste stature," they found; the root cause was the accused's belief that they had been falsely implicated. They substituted life imprisonment with no release before 25 years of actual imprisonment Supreme Court PTI via Governance Now. The Polis Project and Maktoob report that the CBI had asked the High Court to apply the SC/ST Act and convict the three acquitted Polis Project Maktoob.
Claim · Khairlanji Action Committee Convenor Milind Pakhale alleged the "caste factor" was diluted and that special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam treated the case "as a mere murder trial" PTI via Governance Now. Former Mumbai University Vice-Chancellor Bhalchandra Mungekar called not applying the Act "absolutely unjust", as quoted in Mainstream Mainstream.
Both sides went to the Supreme Court. The CBI wanted the death penalty back; the convicts sought acquittal, arguing among other things that the FIR was delayed by 22 to 26 hours. On 24 May 2019, Justices Arun Mishra, B R Gavai and Surya Kant dismissed every appeal. The High Court had "rightly" found this was not a rarest of rare case, they held, and the delay had been explained. The bench also noted that local police had not investigated properly Supreme Court. That left the sentences at life with 25 years' actual imprisonment Scroll, and no conviction under the SC/ST Act at any level.
The survivor, and an empty hut
The state gave Bhaiyyalal Bhotmange a house and a watchman's job. He died of a heart attack in Nagpur on 20 January 2017, two years before the Supreme Court closed the case The Hindu. On the 18th anniversary in September 2024, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi chief Prakash Ambedkar said the family's hut was "lying vacant" and demanded it be made a memorial Deccan Herald. Anniversary coverage in September 2025 was still arguing that the SC/ST Act should have been applied Maktoob. We found no 2025-26 report of a decision on the memorial or on where the convicts are held.
Sources
- Supreme Court of India: CBI v Sakru Mahagu Binjewar and Ors, Criminal Appeals 1791-1795 of 2014, 24 May 2019
- Frontline: Dalit blood on village square, 2006 report, republished 23 Jan 2015
- Sabrang (Communalism Combat): Massacre in Maharashtra, Nov 2006
- Human Rights Watch: India's Dalits: between atrocity and protest, 12 Jan 2007
- PUDR and others: Suppressing the voice of the oppressed, fact-finding on Khairlanji protests, 2007
- Rediff: Maharashtra: Dalit anger leaves 4 dead, 60 injured, 30 Nov 2006
- UNI via Oneindia: 4 arrested in train torching case, Maharashtra back to normalcy, 1 Dec 2006
- Economic Times: Anti-RR Patil forces behind riots: Raj, Dec 2006
- BBC: Death sentences dropped for mob murder of Dalit family, 14 Jul 2010
- PTI via Governance Now: Maha to move SC against HC Khairlanji verdict, 14 Jul 2010
- PTI via Governance Now: Committee alleges dilution of 'caste factor' in Khairlanji case, 16 Jul 2010
- Mainstream (A K Biswas): Khairlanji Dalit Massacres: Justice for the Victims Aborted, 18 Sep 2010
- The Hindu: Lone Khairlanji massacre survivor dies of heart attack, 21 Jan 2017
- Scroll: Lone survivor of 2006 Khairlanji Dalit family massacre dies of heart attack, 21 Jan 2017
- The Polis Project: Uncovering caste-based violence: the Khairlanji massacre and the story of its coverup
- Deccan Herald: Prakash Ambedkar urges Bhotmange family hut be made a memorial, 30 Sep 2024
- Maktoob: Nineteen years of Khairlanji, 29 Sep 2025