Rajkot lynching: Cong leaders meet family, seek probe
AHMEDABAD: THE INCIDENT TOOK PLACE AT AN IRON FABRICATION FACTORY IN SHAPER ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF RAJKOT CITY ON SUNDAY
A Rajkot court on Tuesday sent four men arrested for lynching a Dalit man to police custody till May 25 even as the Gujarat Congress pressed for a committee of Dalit MLAs to monitor the investigation.
Five persons, including a minor, were arrested on Monday for thrashing ragpicker Mukesh Vania (30) to death suspecting him to be a thief on Sunday.
The incident took place at an iron fabrication factory in Shaper on the outskirts of Rajkot city, some 200 km from Ahmedabad. The accused in the case — Chirag Vora, Divyesh Vora, Tejas Zala and Jayshukh Radadiya — were remanded to four-day police custody on Tuesday.
They had shot a video of the incident, which went viral after they uploaded it on social media.
In the video, which was shot on Sunday, the accused are seen thrashing Vania who is tied to the factory’s gate. He later succumbed to his injuries.
After a day-long protest by relatives, his last rites were performed at his native village of Parnala in Surendranagar district on Monday.
Vania, his wife Jaya and aunt Savita were collecting scraps near the factory which allegedly led to an altercation. Jaya has alleged that before flogging her husband, the accused thrashed both women.
On Tuesday, a Congress delegation led by the party’s Gujarat in-charge Rajiv Satav visited Vania’s family and assured them of help. “We demand that the government pay the victim’s family an appropriate compensation and form a committee of Dalit MLAs for a thorough inquiry into the incident. The perpetrators must get the severest punishment,” Congress spokesperson Shaktisinh Gohil tweeted.
“BJP and RSS have an antiDalit, anti-OBC and anti-Tribe mindset. BJP ministers say killing Dalits is no crime and that they (Dalits) deserve this. A Dalit is thrashed to death in Gujarat’s Rajkot and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi maintains silence on atrocities on Dalits,” he added.