JAIPUR: A Dalit youth was allegedly burnt to death in Alwar district by his employers who were enraged by his frequent demands for pending wages. One of the two suspects is the son of the local sarpanch.
This is the second such horrific case in the state. Over a fortnight back, a priest was set ablaze in Karauli district over a land dispute.
The local police said victim Kamal Kishore Dhanka’s brother, Roop Singh Dhanka, filed a complaint, alleging Kamal died in a fire that was “intentionally” ignited. According to the complaint, Dhanka, 23, worked at a liquor outlet run by Rakesh Yadav and Subhash Chand at Kumpur-Bhageri road. Whenever Kamal asked for his wages, pending for five months, the contractor would threaten and beat him.
On Saturday afternoon, the two owners came to Dhankas’ home at Jhadka village and took Kamal along with them.
The following day, the Dhanka family came to know that the liquor outlet had caught fire. When they reached the spot along with the local police, they found that Kamal’s burnt body was lying inside an iron container-cum-deep freezer at the liquor outlet.
The family alleged that the owners poured petrol on Kamal, forced him to stay inside and then set fire to the container.
On their complaint, the police have registered a case of murder against Rakesh and Subhash under various sections of the SC-ST Act. Deputy SP Tara Chand said Rakesh Yadav is the son of local sarpanch of Machrauli panchayat.
“We have sent a forensic team to the spot for a detailed investigation,’’ said Chand.
The family initially refused to allow a post-mortem and insisted on a judicial inquiry. Later, on persuasion of the police, they agreed to the post-mortem which was conducted by a medical board.
Bhiwadi SP Rammoorti Joshi said the burnt body of the victim was kept inside an iron box that was used to store beer bottles.