BHOPAL: Three murders, including the Wednesday broad daylight killing of an RSS-VHP leader in Mandsaur and the Tuesday late-night killing of a swimming coach in Indore, jolted Madhya Pradesh over the last 24 hours.
On Wednesday, the local VHP and RSS leader Yuvraj Singh Chauhan (40) was shot dead by unidentified assassins in full public glare in Abhinandan Colony area at around 11 am. The assassins fired thrice from close range on Chauhan who slumped on the ground after being hit by bullets.
He was rushed to the hospital, where doctors declared him as brought dead. Chauhan, a local VHP leader who has also been associated with the RSS was also running the SRM cable TV network in Mandsaur and the killing is suspected to be linked to the business-related rivalry.
According to SP of Mandsaur district Hitesh Chaudhary, around 5-6 suspects have been detained by police for questioning in connection with the killing that is suspected to be linked to business-related disputes.
This is the second high-profile killing of a saffron outfit leader in Mandsaur town within nine months. The Mandsaur Nagar Palika chairperson and BJP leader Prahlad Bandhwar was shot dead by close aide Manish Bairagi in January.
A few hours before the VHP-RSS leader was shot dead in Mandsaur on Wednesday morning, a swimming coach and former national level swimmer Harsh Pathak (42) was brutally murdered and three of his aides injured critically by another group led by one Rahul Bairagi near the Kastoor Talkies in Indore’s Chhatripura area on Tuesday late night.
Pathak and his aides were attacked by Bairagi and aides with knives and stones, resulting in the instant death of Pathak (a swimming coach at Indore’s Residency Club) and critical injuries to his three aides, who have been hospitalized.
Police have lodged a case of murder against the accused. The swimming coach’s killing is being seen as a fallout of an old dispute with Raju Bairagi.
Importantly, the police are also probing possibility of the two killings (Mandsaur and Indore) being linked to each other and the possibility of both the murdered men having some association with inter-state criminal Sudhakar Rao Maratha, who was arrested in connection with the high-profile contract killing of a property dealer and cable TV network operator Sandeep Tel in Indore in January.
The third alleged killing happened at a village in Nalkeda area of Agar-Malwa district, when two groups of Rathore and Patidar community clashed on Wednesday early morning over the alleged molestation of a Rathore community girl by a Patidar youth Rambabu Patidar during Dussehra fair on Tuesday evening.
During the Wednesday morning violent clash, the Patidars attacked 45-year-old Ramesh Rathore (the girl’s uncle) who died on the spot. Two men, including Rambabu Patidar have been detained in the matter, ASP-Agar Malwa district Pradip Patel said.