Indian Tribal News Service
Bhopal
The police on Wednesday said nine persons have been arrested for allegedly beating two tribals to death suspecting them to be involved in cow slaughter.
The two tribal men died on Tuesday morning after some people, who the Congress alleged belonged to the Bajrang Dal, beat them up over suspicion d of cow slaughter in Simaria village under Kurai police station.
Following the incident, a group led by opposition Congress legislator Arjun Singh Kakodia staged a six-hour-long protest on the Jabalpur-Nagpur highway on Tuesday, demanding job and financial assistance for the kin of the deceased. They ended the protest after an assurance from the district administration.
The district administration in an official release said a financial assistance worth Rs 8.25 lakh has been approved for the kin of each of the deceased.
Local MP and Union minister Faggan Singh Kulaste, however, said it is yet not clear whether the accused belonged to any organisation. The dispute started over the meat (of cow) and it would not be correct as of now to say that any organisation is involved in the incident, Kulaste told reporters.
He said action will be taken on the basis of an inquiry and nobody, irrespective of their association, will be spared.
According to an FIR registered following a complaint by Brajesh Batti, who was injured in the incident, a group of 15-20 people allegedly hit Sampatlal Batti, a resident of Sagar village, and Simaria resident
Dhansay Inwati with sticks accusing them of cow slaughter.
Inwati and Sampatlal Batti died around 6 am on Tuesday during treatment in the hospital, the complainant said.
Sampatlal Batti’s daughter Sunita Batti has been appointed as a daily wage employee at a tribal girls’ hostel in Barelipar village, and Dhansay Inwati’s son Jaiprakash has been appointed as a daily wager at a higher secondary school in Vijaypani village, the district administration said.
The police said it has arrested Sher Singh Rathore (28), Ajay Sahu (27), Vedant Chouhan (18), Deepak Avadhia (38), Basant Raghuvanshi (32) and Raghunandan Raghuvanshi (20), all of whom have been named in the FIR. Three suspects – Anshul Chourasia (22), Shivraj Raghuvanshi (23) and Rinku Pal (30) – were also arrested, the police said, adding that a hunt was on for others involved in the incident.
Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath has constituted a committee of three-party legislators – Omkar Singh, Dr Ashok Marskole and Narayan Patta, all belonging to the tribal community, to look into the incident, Nath’s media coordinator and state Congress spokesman Narendra Saluja said.
State BJP president VD Sharma termed the incident as “inhuman” and assured that his party government in the state will not spare any of the culprits.
