Families of 32-year-old cattle trader Majlum Ansari and 12-year-old Imtiaz Khan, who were lynched allegedly by members of a group that works for preserving cow population, in the forests of Balumath, refused to accept compensations offered to them by Chief Minister Raghubar Das. They also declined invitations extended to them by the CM to visit him in the State capital.
“The promised compensation will not help in sustaining our families; we need Rs50 lakh to make ends meet. The CM should come and witness for himself the ground reality in the villages,” one of the family members said.
Before the refusal came on Tuesday, Das had announced compensations worth Rs1 lakh each to the families of the two victims, along with instructions to district officials of latehar to hand over the ex-gratia amount on the same day. He had invited them to meet him in Ranchi on March 25. The CM also cautioned the officials to check such horrendous incidents in future.
Following orders, latehar Deputy Commissioner Ravi Kant Shukla, Superintendent of Police Anoop Birthare and a delegation of administrative officials visited the villages to deliver the promised compensation to the kin of the deceased and inform them about the invitation from the CM.
“The family members wanted to take the money from the CM himself during their meeting on Friday. No denial regarding the compensation or the invitation was made in our presence, although this news has reached my ears too through various channels,” said Shukla.
Meanwhile, villages of Majlum and Imtiaz, Nawadah and Arahara, have turned into political hotspots following the lynching. Joining the list of Opposition leaders, Hemant Soren too visited the two villages to console the grieving family members of the victims.
While JVM chief Babulal Marandi has dubbed it worse than the Dadri incident, the communal sentiments involved in the torture and killing of a modest cattle trader and his teenage companion are being used as ammunition for opening fire against the State Government.
Following her visit to the family members, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Politburo member Brinda Karat met the CM to express her reservations about the investigation into the horrendous lynching.
In a Press communiqué released later, the CPI (M) stated that the CM has agreed that the lynching was not carried out of personal vendetta. In a memorandum submitted to him, the leftwing party raised fingers at the investigation into the matter, accusing police and administrative officials of misleading the enquiry.
“Investigators have provided false facts about the lynching being a result of past dispute. This is being done to cover up the highhandedness of cow vigilante groups,” Karat said during a Press conference on Tuesday.
She also met Governor Droupadi Murmu to present her with a memorandum enlisting the lacunae she felt in the investigation of the case after her visit to Nawadah and Arahara, villages of Majlum and Imtiaz, on Monday.
latehar district police have lived up to its image. Following its mounting pressure on the remaining three accused of Jhaber hanging case in which two members of the minority community were hanged to death, the three accused surrendered before a latehar court on Tuesday.
Palamu DIG Saket Kumar Singh has confirmed this surrender of three which he attributed to the police pressure on them.
Eight were identified for this macabre tragedy at Jhaber out of which 5 were arrested in just 24 hours time. These three persons were hiding but after tremendous police pressure they surfaced and surrendered before the court.
latehar SP Anoop Birtharey and his team of cops and officials conducted this post murder action with great speed, said sources.
Majlum and Imtiaz were beaten and then hanged by their necks while they were taking a herd of buffaloes to an animal fair near their village. The assailants, with affiliations to local chapter of a cow vigilante outfit and political party, murdered them accusing them of slaughtering cows.