The incident took place in a village in the Karauli district, about 177 km from Jaipur.
Jaipur:
The Rajasthani priest who died Thursday night from burns after being attacked by a group of men over a land dispute was cremated on Saturday after his family relented and allowed the last rites to be performed.
The police have also arrested two people in connection with the crime and three others have been named in a FIR (first information report).
The family members had refused to perform the final rites until the state government complied with all their demands. His demands included compensation of Rs 50 lakh and a government job.
“All defendants must be arrested and action taken against him patwari (fiscal officer) and police who support the accused. We want protection, “Lalit, a relative of the priest, Babu Lal Vaishnav, told the ANI news agency.
Earlier today, Karauli District Subdivisional Magistrate Om Prakash Meena had rushed to the priest’s village to persuade the family to hold the funeral. “We are asking the family to perform the last rites since two days have passed since the death,” he said.
A BJP delegation led by Jaipur MP Ramcharan Bohra also met with the priest’s family today and echoed their demands on the congressional government in the state.
The priest owned about thirteen bighas (about 5.2 acres) of land that belonged to the Radha Krishna temple trust in a village in the district, but it was given to the head priest to cultivate as a source of income.
However, this land became the source of a dispute in Rajasthan’s Karauli, which is about 177 km from Jaipur. Babu Lal wanted to build a house for himself on a plot close to his land, which is bordered by a small mound. To begin construction, he had an excavator level the ground.
However, a group of people from the dominant community of Meena opposed this and claimed the land as their own. The dispute was brought to the village elders who ruled in favor of the priest, but the defendants allegedly began to build their own hut on the ground that the priest had leveled.
This led to an altercation. The priest, whose statement to the police has been recorded, said six people poured gasoline on their bajra (millet) bales lying at the disputed site and set it on fire on Wednesday. He claimed that they also poured gasoline on him and tried to set him on fire.
Suffering burns, he was rushed to Jaipur SMS Hospital, where he died on Thursday night.
Senior Police Officer Harji Lal Yadav told NDTV: “The autopsy of the body is being done right now. We have registered a murder case and we have also arrested the main defendant, Kailsah Meena.”
The priest named six people in his statement to the police: Kailash, Shankar, Namo Meena and three others.
With contributions from ANI
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