Witness in Dalit man's murder case killed; three arrested

A 46-year-old man who was a witness in the case related to the murder of a Dalit man four years ago has died after allegedly being attacked by the accused's relatives in Gujarat's Botad district, police said on Friday.

Three of the alleged assailants have already been arrested.

Rajesh Makwana, who himself belonged to a Scheduled Caste community, was attacked near his village Bagad in Ranpur taluka in the district on September 6 by seven armed men.

He died at a hospital in neighbouring Bhavnagar city on Thursday night, said Botad district superintendent of police Kishor Balolia.

Members of the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch, a Dalit rights organisation, handed over a memorandum to local police, stating that Makwana's body will not be claimed till justice is done. It also claimed that he was killed because he had testified before the trial court in the 2019 murder case only 15 days ago.

As per preliminary probe, the assailants, who belonged to an Other Backward Class (OBC) community, held a grudge against Makwana for being a witness in the case of the murder of Manjibhai Solanki, a Dalit social worker who lived in neighbouring Jalila village.

Political rivalry between Solanki and his wife Geeta Solanki, the then village sarpanch, and the accused men led to Solanki's murder, SP Balolia said.

The men allegedly involved in the attack on Makwana are related to the eight persons arrested in the Solanki murder case, he added.

''Makwana was allegedly attacked by one Dhiru Khachar, his three sons and three unidentified men on September 6. He succumbed to injuries on Thursday night. While Khachar's three sons have been already arrested, Khachar himself and the other three are yet to be nabbed,'' said Balolia.

Based on a statement given by an injured Makwana at the hospital on September 6, Ranpur police registered a First Information Report on September 7 against Dhiru Khachar, his sons Haresh, Kishor and Raghu and three unidentified men from Bagad village.

They were initially booked for attempt to murder under section 307 of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Now they would be booked for murder, the police official said.

Police have been deployed in Bagad village to maintain law and order, he added.

Kanshibhai Makwana, deceased Rajesh's uncle, said they wanted transfer of the SP and the arrest of all the accused. ''Till then we will not claim the dead body,'' he told reporters.

Manjibhai Solanki (51) was beaten to death on Ranpur-Barwala road on June 19, 2019. While his wife was then village sarpanch, Manjibhai himself was a member of the Jalila gram panchayat and served as deputy sarpanch.

Days later, police arrested eight persons including Ashok Khachar, Pratap Khachar, Ruturaj Khachar and Raviraj Khachar in the case.