Police have arrested nine persons in connection with the murder of two tribal men Inwati Batti and Sampatlal Batti who were brutally assaulted by Hindutva group Bajrang Dal in Madhya Pradesh’s Seoni district.
The two tribal men died on Tuesday morning after Bajrang Dal members beat them up over suspicion of cow slaughter in Simaria village under Kurai police station limits.
Police arrested Sher Singh Rathore (28), Ajay Sahu (27), Vedant Chouhan (18), Deepak Avadhia (38), Basant Raghuvanshi (32) and Raghunandan Raghuvanshi (20), all of whom have been named in the FIR.
Three suspects – Anshul Chourasia (22), Shivraj Raghuvanshi (23) and Rinku Pal (30) – were also arrested.
After the incident, a group led by opposition Congress legislator Arjun Singh Kakodia staged a six-hour-long protest on the Jabalpur-Nagpur highway on Tuesday, demanding job and financial assistance for the kin of the deceased, PTI reported.
Kakodia claimed the attackers comprised Bajrang Dal members and called for a ban on the Hindutva outfit.
He said the kin of the victims should be given Rs 1 crore each as well as government jobs.
The district administration in an official release said a financial assistance worth Rs 8.25 lakh has been approved for the kin of each of the deceased.
Sampatlal Batti’s daughter Sunita Batti has been appointed as a daily wage employee at a tribal girls’ hostel in Barelipar village, and Dhansay Inwati’s son Jaiprakash has been appointed as a daily wager at a higher secondary school in Vijaypani village.
According to an FIR registered following a complaint by Brajesh Batti, who was injured in the incident, a group of 15-20 people hit Sampatlal Batti, a resident of Sagar village, and Simaria resident Dhansay Inwati with sticks accusing them of cow slaughter between 2.30 am and 3 am on Tuesday. When Brajesh Batti arrived at the spot, he too was assaulted.
Inwati and Sampatlal Batti died around 6 am on Tuesday during treatment in the hospital.
