The Manohar Lal Khattar Government in Haryana is under fire over the mysterious death of a Dalit youth inside a police chowki in Jhajjar last week. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday sought a CBI probe into the incident and also, lashed out at the State Government for its apathy towards dalits.
Kejriwal on Monday visited the family of the deceased, Rajesh Kumar, in Jhajjar and accused the authorities of trying to hush up the matter.
Police have maintained that Kumar had committed suicide by hanging himself in the police chowki on November 28.
Describing the 22-year-old’s death as a “cold-blooded” murder, Kejriwal, while talking to the mediapersons at Jhajjar said, “I met his (Rajesh) mother. She told me that the police had picked him up as a witness in some case. He was not at fault and there was no FIR against him. In a way, he has been murdered at the police station and now they are trying to hush up the matter by saying it was a case of suicide.”
“How can anyone hang himself inside a police station?,” asked Kejriwal, who was accompanied by AAP’s Haryana unit chief, Naveen Jaihind.
He said, “We demand that this case be handed over to the CBI and those police personnel, who are behind this, should be given exemplary punishment.” Stepping up the attack on Khattar Government, Kejriwal alleged that many incidents against dalits had been reported in Haryana and they should be given security.
“My demand from the Chief Minister (Manohar Lal) is that dalits be given security, especially this family. This family should also be given adequate compensation, a job should also be given to one member and they should be given justice,” he said.
According to the police, Rajesh had picked up a wire inside the police chowki and hanged himself.
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Shashank Kumar said that the youth had been brought to the chowki by some individual, who lodged a complaint stating that he be questioned in connection with his grandson going missing.