Family members of a BJP functionary who was beaten to death in a Muslim-majority village at Vikasnagar in Dehradun district on Saturday have refused to consent to a post-mortem till the 12 named accused are killed in police encounters “like it’s done in Uttar Pradesh”.
“The police, panchayat leaders, government officers and BJP leaders are mounting pressure on us to sign the documents to give our consent for the post-mortem. But we will not sign it till his killers are alive,” said Rajesh Kashyap, younger brother of the deceased Vinod Kumar Kashyap.
Vinod was deputy convener of the BJP’s OBC cell in Vikasnagar. He was killed when a mob of around 40 people armed with sticks, hammers and shovels stormed his house in Bairagiwala village over a dispute over irrigating a field. Vinod died after being struck on the head with a hammer.
Vinod’s father Bhagwat Prasad said: “I want to ask the Pushkar Singh Dhami government to stop pressuring us to sign for the post-mortem. The chief minister must learn from his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath. We don’t want the government to bulldoze the houses of the killers, we don’t want their arrest, we only want to see all 12 accused dead. They should be killed in police encounters instead of being arrested.”
Vinod’s other brother Ashok had filed a case against 40 people, including Mohammad Imtiyaz, Masoom Ali, Razzak Ali, Amaan Ali, Sharafat Ali, Mohammad Yunus, Mohammad Shabaz, Mohammad Salman and Mohammad Javed on Saturday night.
A large number of BJP and Vishwa Hindu Parishad members had held a dharna in the village on Sunday against the murder and torched two houses of the alleged killers.
Pramendra Dobhal, senior superintendent of police of Dehradun, said: “We assure the people that the accused would be brought to book and we will plead (in the court) for the harshest punishment to them.”