Eleven suspects have been charged with murder and four have been arrest. However, the man who fired the revolver is still at large.
Video screengrab of the incident showing the man who shot Devilal Meena. Photo: Twitter.
New Delhi: A man was shot dead at a wedding in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur on Sunday, December 12, by a group of men allegedly chanting Jai Shri Ram, leading witnesses to allege that these men belonged to the local units of right-wing groups, NDTV reported. A murder case has been filed against 11 identified persons while some of the attackers are yet to be identified. Four have been arrested.
The victim was one Devilal Meena, a former two-time sarpanch who was the chief organiser of the wedding, which was organised and attended by followers of imprisoned godman Rampal. Rampal is currently serving a life sentence in Haryana for the murders of five women and an infant.
Meena was shot in the chest by a man wearing a red sweater and sunglasses who, along with the other accused, crashed the wedding. He died on his way to a hospital in Rajasthan’s Kota.
According to a senior officer of the local police, speaking to NDTV, the assailants alleged that the wedding being organised by Rampal’s followers was “illegal” and that the alternative ceremony that is practiced by Rampal’s followers (known as Ramaini) goes against the Hindu religion.
Over the years, the term ‘Kathavachak‘ has been demonised by a prominent section of the far-right and influential Hindu godmen and women have been labelled as perpetrators of ‘Katha Jihad’ (a conspiracy theory that a group of Hindu godmen are working as mercenaries of Muslims). Earlier, there have been controversies and demonstrations by the right wing against the distribution of books and preachings of Rampal.
On November 29, the Bajrang Dal Najafgarh page uploaded a video to Facebook in which its members can be seen heckling followers of Rampal.
Whether or not the attackers at the wedding belong to the popular right-wing group cannot be ascertained as yet.
Videos of the incident are being circulated on social media which show the man in the red jacket wielding a revolver and a panicked crowd of wedding attendees trying to flee from the attackers. This man has not been arrested as yet.
The attackers were finally chased away by some of the guests.
Mandsaur superintendent of police (SP) Sunil Pandey noted that most of the three followers of Rampal who attended the wedding came from outside and the locals of Bhesoda Mandi, the village where the wedding was held, objected to the function which resulted in the violence and Meena getting shot, the Quint reported.
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(With input from news agency language)
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