INDORE: The son of a local BJP leader in
Mhow was stabbed to death when he tried to intervene in a clash between two groups over the digging of a borewell in a newly developed residential colony late Wednesday night. The murder sparked protests, vandalism and arson.
The district administration launched an early morning drive on Thursday and demolished six illegal constructions belonging to the murder accused. Two days ago, CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan had warned that the homes of criminals would be razed. "Mama's bulldozer has started rolling," he had said.
On Thursday, home minister
Narottam Mishra
tweeted: "The (Mhow) victim, Sujeet Singh Chouhan, is no more. But the prime accused behind the incident, Raju Khatik, has been taken into custody, and police are looking for the others."
At two places, illegal constructions of the accused have been demolished, and the administration is trying to identify other illegal properties of the accused, he added.
This is CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan's government, and no criminal will be spared," Mishra warned.
Sujit, 22, was the son of local BJP leader Udal Singh Chouhan. SP (rural) Bhagwat Singh Birade said that the clash erupted after some residents of Pigdambar locality objected to the digging of a borewell on an adjacent plot, saying the dust was inconveniencing them.
The plot is owned by Rajesh Mew, and his relatives, including Lokesh Verma alias Raju Khatik, were digging the borewell, say police. The locals' protest sparked a quarrel, which turned into a scuffle. The clash intensified as more people from both sides joined the fight, said SP Birade.
"Sujit Singh Chouhan, a resident of Pigdambar, came to the rescue when he saw people from his area being beaten up. When he tried to intervene, accused Lokesh Verma allegedly took out a knife and stabbed him in the chest," said Birade, adding that Sujit died on the spot.
Five others - Anil Prajapat, Kuldeep, Dharmendra Thakur, Virendra Chouhan and Shivendra Chouhan - were injured in the clash, and are in hospital.
IG (rural) Rakesh Gupta said that they have identified nine of the accused, and three of them - Verma, Rohit, and Rajesh - have been taken into custody. "A case under IPC sections 302 (murder), 307, 323, 294, has been registered against all the accused," he said. Enraged by the incident, locals held a road blockade at night, triggering traffic jams on Indore-Pithampur route for more than three hours. Some of them allegedly vandalized vehicles, torching a couple of them, and pelted stones, forcing police to use teargas.
A joint team of police and district administration went to Gurjakhedi area of Mhow around 7am on Thursday and demolished six structures of the accused. Indore collector Manish Singh said five of these are residential and one commercial, totaling 35,000 sq ft. "All these constructions were found to be illegal," said Singh. TNN
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