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Madhya Pradesh minister says no Bajrang Dal link in lynching of two tribals
Home minister Narottam Mishra said primary investigation revealed that the meat recovered from the possession of the deceased was beef
Days after two tribal men were lynched over suspicion of cow slaughter in Madhya Pradesh’s Seoni district, state home minister Narottam Mishra on Thursday said primary investigation revealed that the meat recovered from the possession of the deceased was beef and there was no involvement of Bajrang Dal activists in the act.
“During the course of primary investigation, it was learnt that the meat which was recovered from the possession of the deceased was that of a cow. The evidence also suggests that no members of Bajrang Dal were involved in the crime,” Mishra told reporters here.
The minister’s remarks came amid the opposition Congress’s allegation that the attackers belong to Bajrang Dal. A local town inspector, G S Uike, had also said that three of the 13 people who were arrested belonged to Bajrang Dal while six belonged to Ram Sena, a local right wing organisation.
The two tribal men, Dhan Shah Inawati and Sampat Batti of Simariya village, died after they were allegedly assaulted by a group of 15-20 people belonging to a right-wing outfit over suspicion of cow slaughter on Tuesday. Another person, Brijesh Batti of Kurali village, was injured in the incident.
Subsequently, a case was registered against 15 people for rioting, murder, voluntarily causing hurt and under relevant sections of the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. At least 13 people have been arrested so far.
Seoni superintendent of police Kumar Prateek dismissed local town inspector Uike’s statement that the accused belonged to Bajrang Dal. “As of now, the accused were not found to be associated with any organisation. Town inspector Uike said what villagers told him without verifying the facts,” he said.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) also ruled out the involvement of the Bajrang Dal in the lynchings. “The incident is related to cow meat and we are very clear that we won’t allow smuggling of the cow. But it is also a fact that the accused don’t belong to Bajrang Dal,” state VHP leader Anupam Gupta said.
The Congress, however, insisted that the accused belonged to Bajrang Dal.
“One of the main accused, Deepak Awadhiya, claimed he is the Gauraksha Pramukh of Bajrang Dal. We have posters regarding this. He has also posted his pictures in RSS uniform on Facebook. In another poster of VHP and Bajrang Dal, another accused Sher Singh Rathore was seen,” state Congress spokesperson Narendra Saluja said.
Leader of opposition in the state assembly Govind Singh, who led a team of Congress leader to meet the family of the deceased, sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the lynchings.
“A CBI inquiry should be conducted in the matter because the family and villagers have videos which prove that members belonging to Bajrang Dal and Ram Sena killed the tribals in front of police. Police personnel were standing silently when the accused were brutally thrashing the tribals,” he said.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, alleged that the Congress was carrying out propaganda to woo the tribals.
“The previous Congress government did nothing for the tribals. In just eight years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to change the lives of the tribals with development schemes. Congress leaders are nervous about losing their tribal votes so they are trying to politicise by making fake propaganda,” BJP spokesperson Durgesh Keswani said.
The state government has provided an ex gratia of ₹8.25 lakh each to the next kin of the deceased and an amount of ₹75,000 to the injured person.
