HAZARIBAGH: Ex Chief Minister, Raghubar Das has called the murder of Rupesh Pandey as a case of a planned mob lynching. He has posted on his Twitter handle “Rupesh Pandey’s mob lynching is a conspiracy executed. I met his family members and shared the grief. No BJP worker will be at peace until justice is done to Rupesh. Hemant government must understand that the Hindu community of the state is not weak. We will not be afraid at any cost.”
Rupesh Pandey’s murder by Islamists during the procession of Saraswati Visarjan in Hazaribagh is condemned by the people of Jharkhand. Protest marches have been carried out in many towns and cities of the state. Meanwhile, the former CM and BJP leader Raghubar Das has met the family of the deceased 17-year old minor boy on Friday 11th February 2022 and assured them to help in their battle for justice. Raghubar Das has accused the Hemant Soren government of Muslim appeasement.
In the video tweeted by Raghubar Das, he is seen listening to the Pandey family members. They are heard denying the theory of murder during the Saraswati Visarjan procession as peddled in the media. Instead, in this video, they are saying “He was called there by a phone call. A Mohammedan boy called him on phone. He took Rupesh forcefully on a motorcycle. The things are being said that Rupesh was killed during the Saraswati Visarjan procession.
All of this is a lie. It is false news. Rupesh was working on a mobile shop.” Some mobile shop owner called Uday was also mentioned there. Manoj Ratan Chauthe, SP Hazaribagh, has also denied the connection between the murder and Saraswati Visarjan procession, report the Punjab Keshri.
It must be noted that earlier reports published by news portal OpIndia about this issue were based on media reporting. In these reports, it is said that the murder took place due to a ruckus that emerged during the Saraswati Visarjan procession. To confirm the claims made by the family of the deceased boy, OpIndia called Manoj Ratan Chauthe, SP Hazaribagh. He did not receive the phone call. The station in charge of the Barhi police station was also called. He denied speaking anything on this issue until the investigations are over.
In a brief talk with news portal OpIndia, the former CM of the state and BJP leader Raghubar Das said, “People are enraged due to this incident. The 16-year old only child of the family was mob lynched and killed by a few people of the specific community. Ever since the Jharkhand state had a coalition government of JMM, RJD, and the Congress party, run by Hemant Soren, the Jihadi and antinational forces are becoming stronger every day. This is the 10th mob lynching incident in the last 26 months.”
Raghubar Das further said, “We demand government everyday trial in a fast track court and earliest punishments to the culprits in this case. This is the duty of the government. The boy was learning and he was working as well. Therefore his family must be helped by giving them Rs. 50 lakhs and providing a government job to one of the family members.
The accused have filed a case against other villagers as well. This should be investigated and the case must be taken back. The culprits must be punished as soon as possible to avoid more such incidents in the future. And all this is happening after the government has made a law against mob lynching. No one in the state fears or respects the law and order of the state. At 5 PM in the evening, we along with our delegation of BJP will go and meet the Governor of the state. We will inform him of the situation.”
Raghubar Das said, “The mother of the deceased boy has told me that the procession had already passed ahead. The boy was in the mobile store. He was called from the shop and then was mob lynched.”
Raghubar Das was accompanied by the local and state-level workers of BJP and all the Hindu organizations. The BJP leader Suman Sourabh who was present there has informed that amidst the heavy police force deployed on the spot, the former CM Raghubar Das reached the village of the deceased Rupesh Pandey at around 12:45 PM.
Suman Sourabh is the state coordinator of the Jharkhand State Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha IT cell. While talking to OpIndia, he said, “I was with Raghubar Das throughout his visit to the village of the deceased boy Rupesh Pandey. I also happen to be a relative of Rupesh Pandey. I was the first one to raise this issue. Rupesh Pandey belonged to the village Nai Taand. 5 people have been arrested in this case so far.
The family of the deceased boy has made a few demands to the government and administration which include arresting the other 21 culprits, conducting the trials of this case in a fast track court, capital punishment to all the culprits within one year, a compensation of minimum Rs 50 lakhs to the family and raising a statue of Rupesh in the adjoining village Kariyatpur.”
Suman Sourabh further said, “Raghubar Das has declared a help of Rs 51 thousand to the family. Hemant Soren has not given any statement about this matter so far.” According to Suman Sourabh, no minister and not even any MLA of the Jharkhand government has given any statement about this issue so far.
The distraught mother of Rupesh Pandey said, “My son used to work in the shop. He used to leave the home at around 9 AM. That day he came back at 2 PM for lunch. He went back to the shop at around 3:30 PM. At around 5:30 PM we were informed that our son is lying unconscious there. The Muslim boy took him away. They killed him there. Pappu Miyaan has murdered him. The police have been unable to investigate so far.”
Other women present in the mob also bolstered the claim. They said, “Pappu sat on Rupesh’s chest. Now he is accusing us back. He set his locality on fire. He himself burnt the vehicle too. Broke the house on his own. No one came to the house and bothered to ask what happened to your son. He must be hanged. Nothing happened till now. Now we will block the roads so that the government knows what is happening here.”
Annapurna Devi, Minister of Education (States) in the Union Government has written on her Twitter handle “The silence by the Jharkhand government and the idle police administration is adding worse pains to the wounds of these people. The public boiling with outrage. We will not be silent spectators anymore. Jharkhand government must initiate the procedures to give strict punishments to the inhuman killers of the innocent boy Rupesh.”
Former CM of Jharkhand, Babulal Marandi has written on his Twitter handle, “The brutal lynching of a young boy in Barhi’s Lakhna Dulmunha last night is a vivid picture of Jharkhand’s deteriorating law and order situation. The deceased Rupesh was the only earning son of his family. After the incident, there is news of unilateral action by the administration and internet shutdown in 4 districts including Hazaribagh.
Now imagine how capable the helpless administration and incompetent government are of providing security to the people? Identifying all the culprits, the government must impose on them the Mob Lynching Act and take strict action. The government should give compensation of at least Rs 1 crore to Rupesh’s family members.”
Meanwhile, the Hazaribagh police have registered a case against 15 people for spreading false information about this case on social media. According to the Hazaribagh police “Action has been taken against the following 15 persons by the Sadar police station for spreading rumors, creating hatred in the society through false, misleading videos on social media. Action will also be taken against those who maliciously post many old, edited videos on social media claiming to be from Hazaribagh district.”