BHOPAL: A ruling BJP leader, who was formerly associated with the Bajrang Dal was shot dead by two motorbike-borne men in broad daylight in Katni district of Madhya Pradesh.
In a related development, after a short while following the broad daylight murder, the father of one of the accused men allegedly died by suicide at his house in the same district.
The incident happened near a nationalised bank’s branch in Kaimor town under Vijayraghavgarh tehsil of Katni district at around 11 am, when the local BJP leader Nilesh Rajak (30) was driving his motorbike to the market.
Suddenly, two masked men riding another motorcycle came from behind and shot Rajak from close range in the chest. The young BJP leader fell on the ground and died.
The entire broad daylight killing was captured in the CCTV camera installed near the spot.
Subsequent police probe revealed that Rajak, who was close to former MP minister and local BJP MLA Sanjay Pathak, had a violent brawl with a local youth, Akram Khan (already facing three cases) in August and both sides had lodged counter FIRs against each other at Kaimor police station.
A detailed probe by multiple teams of the police established that Akram Khan and his aide, Prince Joseph, were involved in the sensational killing.
Meanwhile, Prince’s father Nelson Joseph, on coming to know about son’s alleged involvement in the BJP leader’s killing, rushed to his home and locked himself in a room. He was later found hanging to death in the room.
As per the police, prime facie Nelson died by suicide, possibly on coming to know about his son’s role in the killing.
Meanwhile, the local MLA and former MP minister Sanjay Pathak blamed the local police for the killing.
“A month and half back, a girl had complained to Nilesh Rajak about Akram often stalking and troubling her. Nilesh had then stopped Akram near DAV and raised the issue when Akram had threatened to kill him. Even at the Kaimor police station, Akram had threatened to kill Nilesh. But instead of acting against Akram, the local police had lodged a case against Nilesh. The family members of Nilesh have alleged that Akram had protection from the local police,” Pathak said.
Pathak further demanded action in the matter on the lines of the action by the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh.
“The people of the town want that both the accused be gunned down in an encounter by police and bulldozer action against the illegal houses of the accused men. All those who protected Akram, including the local police, should also be booked. We want Yogi Waalaa Nyay (action on the lines of the Yogi Adityanath government).”
Angered over the incident, the family of the murdered BJP leader refused to get the body’s autopsy done till the killers were arrested.
“The accused have been identified and efforts are being made to arrest them. Multiple teams are working on the case. The local police station in charge, Arvind Jain has been suspended and attached to the district police lines. Anyone else whose negligence is found will also face action,” Katni district police superintendent Abhinay Vishwakarma said.
