The family members have registered a complaint against eight men from the Gurjar community, alleging that they burned the deceased Ajay Jatav alive. (Representational)
A day after the charred body of a 17-year-old Dalit boy was found in Rajasthan’s Bhiwadi district, the family of the deceased has alleged that he was murdered because he was witness to the alleged murder of another Dalit boy, Neeraj Jatav, on March 2.
The family members have registered a complaint against eight men from the Gurjar community, alleging that they burned the deceased Ajay Jatav alive.
Police haven’t commented on the nature of the death yet and none of the accused named in the FIR have been arrested. “The post-mortem was done today and at present it isn’t possible to say whether it was a murder or suicide. Till now, nobody has been arrested. The investigation is going on. Two of the accused named in the FIR are in judicial custody,” Girdharilal, circle officer, Kishangarh Vas, Alwar, and investigating officer in the case said on Tuesday.
Ajay’s family members have also named in the complaint husband of a local councillor from the Jatav community in the FIR, alleging that his activities are suspicious.
“My brother was an eyewitness to what happened to his friend Neeraj and had also tried to save him. That’s why he was burned alive by men from the Gurjar community. We also suspect the involvement of a local councillor’s husband Dharamveer Jatav because I had seen him distribute money to Gurjars,” alleged Ajay’s brother Harikishan Jatav, who lodged the complaint.
The charred body of Ajay was found on Monday afternoon around 250 m from the spot where Neeraj was allegedly beaten to death during Holi celebrations on March 2.
“Since my brother was an eyewitness to the murder of Neeraj, people from the Gurjar community threatened him on Monday. Later, they abducted him and burnt him alive,” alleged Harikishan, who is the eldest among seven siblings and plies an autorickshaw. He added that Ajay was the youngest among the siblings.
However, few from the Jatav community have come to the support of the family since they named Dharamveer as one of the suspects.
“They are citing a conspiracy by Dharamveer. We are telling them to come to their senses because Dharamveer was sitting with us the whole time,” said Chiranjilal Jatav, a resident of Milakpur village near Bhiwadi.
Members of Jatav community had also submitted a memorandum to the police in support of Dharamveer. But the family members of Ajay have stood by their statement. “The community may put pressure on us, but I have named Dharamveer because I felt his activities are suspicious,” said Harikishan.
Police have, meanwhile, cited an old dispute between Harikishan and Dharamveer. “Preliminary investigation suggests that Dharamveer has been named because some time ago, Harikishan had misbehaved with a woman who was a tenant at Dharamveer’s house. Harikishan was taken into preventive custody for that. It appears he has named Dharamveer because of this enmity,” said Girdharilal.
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