Mumbai: Condemning lynching as inhuman, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said that perpetrators of such crimes must be dealt with sternly.

Mr Fadnavis was speaking to journalists in Latur district during his ‘Maha Janadesh Yatra’, when a query was put to him on the mob lynching incidents that have been reported from across the country in recent times.

Stating that such crimes are absolutely wrong, the chief minister said, “The perpetrators should be ready to face the conseque-nces of their actions. There should be strict action against those involved in lynching.”

Asked whether he, as a member of a “Hindutvawadi party”, was considering giving financial aid to those performing ‘yagnas’ (ritual sacrifices) for good rainfall, Mr Fadnavis replied, “I am a Hindutv-awadi person but with a scientific temperament.”

He added that there had been some demand for facilitating artificial rainfall in the drought-prone Marathwada some weeks ago, but the region has been receiving good rains since the past four-five days, bridging the gap between normal and actual precipitation. “So far, there has been no need to carry out any cloud-seeding drive in Marathwada,” he said.

Cloud seeding is a procedure under which an array of chemicals is used to aid precipitation in clouds.