Residents protest police inaction after local BJP leader's murder

The murder of a local BJP leader in Sangod in Kota district led to a violent clash between residents and the police on Tuesday. The police had to resort to baton-charge after the use of tear-gas failed to disperse the angry protestors led by some local BJP leaders.

Laxminaryan Nagar, general secretary of the Sangod rural BJP Mandal, was returning home when he was shot dead by some unidentified persons on Monday afternoon. Nagar's body lay in the fields on Sangod's outskirts till the evening when some passerby sighted it and informed the local police.

The local BJP unit had given a call for Sangod bandh on Tuesday to protest against the murder and demanded speedy arrest of the assailants. The protest turned violent with the locals blaming the police for the deteriorating law and order situation in the area. “The protestors demanded that a radiologist be included in the medical board carrying out the victim's autopsy. Sangod being a remote area it took some time before the radiologist could arrive, but the demonstrators grew restless and attacked the police,” SP (Kota rural), Rupinder Singh told DNA.

The furious BJP workers staged a huge protest outside Sangod police station and the local hospital where the victim's body was kept for postmortem. The demonstrators pelted stones on the police personnel and damaged government vehicles following which the police resorted to baton-charge and burst tear gas shells, SHO (Sangod) Sriram Niwas Gurjar said. The district police deploy 50 personnel of the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary (RAC) along with other security personnel to control the situation. “The situation was tense initially but soon it was brought under control,” Gurjar said.

Meanwhile, preliminary police investigation indicated towards an old-rival behind the murder of the BJP leader. “In another murder executed in the area in 1994, the murdered BJP leader (Nagar) was one of the accused,” the SP said.

DNA Correspondent/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication