JAIPUR: A land dispute between two families led to the violent death of a man whom a tractor driver knocked down and ran him over allegedly eight times as a crowd of onlookers filmed the horrific act in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district on Wednesday, police said.
The incident took place in the morning at Adda village where groups belonging to Bahadur Gurjar and Atar Singh Gurjar exchanged blows and hurled stones at each other, police said, adding women from both groups joined the fight in which shots were also fired.
Sources said one Nirpat Gurjar fell and a Bahadur group member drove the tractor over him repeatedly.
Nirpat’s brother Vinod told the police that members belonging to the Bahadur group hurled stones at them when the deceased was on his way to his field on a tractor. The accused, Hanumant Singh, entered their house, assaulted them and ran Nirpat over, Vinod said.
Atar Singh, Nirpat’s father, said that women from the accused household had thrown garbage and rotten vegetables at Nirpat five days back, leading to a dispute. It resulted in Dinesh, the son of another accused Bahadur Singh, filing a case against Atar and his sons.
The police detained Atar and allegedly extorted money from him, promising to settle the case. However, the police refused to file a case based on their report. The police have denied the allegations, claiming Nirpat’s brother was responsible for the murder, and that they had taken him into custody.
The incident, which occurred weeks before the Assembly elections, raised a political storm in the state, with the main opposition BJP hitting out at the ruling Congress government.
Shots fired
A crowd of onlookers filmed the horrific incident in Bharatpur district where groups exchanged blows and hurled stones at each other, police said, adding shots were also fired during the fight