BJP moves EC over murder FIR against candidate in MP

BHOPAL: Two days after a Congress functionary of Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh, Salman Khan, was mowed down by several vehicles after a political confrontation just hours before voting, the state BJP on Sunday complained to the Election Commission against the Chhattarpur SP and administration for registering an FIR against BJP candidate Arvind Pateria and several others.

BJP state president VD Sharma suggested that the victim may have been run over by Congress workers to “influence the election”.

The gruesome death happened in a village in Rajnagar assembly constituency, and the complaint alleged that the vehicles were linked to a BJP convoy. Khan, who was driving the vehicle of Congress candidate Vikram Singh Natiraja, had stepped out during the faceoff over right of way and was run over by multiple vehicles.

An FIR was registered later that day, naming Pateria among the accused. On Saturday, Congress’s Digvijaya Singh and Natiraja had staged a dharna with Khan’s body, demanding to know why the murder accused hadn’t been arrested yet. When Digvijaya refused to call off the protest, police assured him that arrests would follow soon.

On Sunday, the BJP submitted a memorandum to the EC. “We have complained that during polling, a false case was registered against the BJP candidate and workers over an incident,” the state BJP chief said. “Congress candidate Natiraja and his accomplices attacked the BJP candidate and workers. We sympathise with the death of the driver but we suspect that to influence the election, Natiraja and his goons ran him over. There has to be a probe. But the administration registered an FIR,” Sharma alleged.
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