New Delhi, Sept. 11 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Maharashtra government to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising senior Hindu and Muslim police officers to investigate the alleged assault of a 17-year-old boy during the communal violence in Akola on May 13, 2023, that killed one person and left eight others, including two police officers, injured.

The boy, Mohammad Afzal Mohammad Sharif, who was allegedly attacked during the incident, also claimed to have witnessed the murder of one Vilas Mahadevrao Gaikwad, an auto-rickshaw driver, who, according to him, was fatally assaulted by four men under the mistaken belief that he was a Muslim.

While ordering a SIT probe, *a bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and ...