Rajasthan RTI activist killed in accident, family alleges foul play

Police have registered a case of murder against four to five people on the basis of a complaint lodged by Rai Singh Gurjar's family and began a probe.
For representational purposes
For representational purposes

KOTA: The family of RTI activist Rai Singh Gurjar, who died in a road accident last week, has alleged foul play, claiming he was killed by people he had exposed in graft cases over the last five years.

Police have registered a case of murder against four to five people on the basis of a complaint lodged by Gurjar's family and began a probe.

However, they said it appeared to be a case of accident and the exact cause will be known after receiving the postmortem report.

The deputy sarpanch of Titarwasa gram panchayat in Jhalawar district suffered a critical head injury in a road accident late Saturday night and died during treatment.

In September 2019, the 27-year-old RTI activist had raised his voice against corruption in developmental work being carried out in Titarwasa gram panchayat, which was adopted by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu under the MP model village scheme in May 2017.

Later also, he continued to speak against corrupt practices by local officials and public representatives.

On Saturday night, Rai Gurjar suffered a critical head injury after his motorbike was hit by an auto rickshaw in Madhopura village.

He was rushed to Jhalawar district hospital, where he succumbed to injuries during treatment later in the night.

"There was no mark of injury or scratch all over the body but a deep wound into his head and no mark of accident all over the place, where the accident reportedly occurred on Saturday night,” Sujan Singh Gurjar, brother of the RTI activist said.

"The deep wound into his head apparently appeared to have been lashed with some sharp weapon," he said, alleging his brother was attacked with a sharp weapon and was murdered as he had been pursuing to expose corruption at various levels in different government projects being carried out in the area.

The murder was projected as a road accident, Sujan Gurjar claimed, adding that he lodged a complaint with the police on Sunday against Titarwasa gram sevak Chandra Singh, village sarpanch Kalulal Bheel, who is an accused in a graft case, Dinesh Patidar, who is involved in illegal transportation of soil, and Naipal Singh, a resident of Titarwas village.

An FIR was registered under sections 302 (murder) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC against four to five persons, SHO at Jhalrapatan police station Jitendra Singh Shekhawat said.

The body was handed over to the family members after postmortem on Sunday and the exact cause of death would be clear only after receiving the postmortem report, the SHO said.

Shekhawat, however, said it appeared to be a case of accident.

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