Uttar Pradesh: Dalit youth killed by bomb placed under his cot

A Dalit teenager died after a bomb planted under his charpoy exploded in the rural Ranimau village of Gopramau in Uttar Pradesh on June 23, 2022. One case has been recorded against members of the Thakur community, but no one has been arrested so far.

The victim, Shiv Kumar Rawat, was working as a labourer in Haridwar and had returned home on June 22. He was sleeping on a cot outside his house when at around 12:55 pm, the bomb detonated.

“The sound of a loud bang woke me up. When I left the house, I couldn’t see anything because of the smoke. The roof was on fire. I started looking for the son sleeping in the bed outside the house. My son was lying 10 meters from the bed, covered in blood,” his father, Mewalal Rawat, was quoted as saying by The Mooknayak.

Rawat revealed that he suspected that Tej Bahadur Singh and Deepu Singh, who belong to the Thakur caste and live in the same village, were behind the crime.

‘Tej Bahadur Singh had bought a piece of land from Arjun Singh from our village. However, the payment was stopped due to a bad check. I worked as a guard at Arjun Singh’s house, for which Tej Bahadur Singh had a grudge against me’, Mewalal told the Mooknayak.

The explosion was caused by a territorial dispute. Tej Bahadur Singh and Deepu Singh of the Thakur caste had bought land from Arjun Singh. But the property could not be officially transferred as the check given to Arjun Singh bounced. Mewalal was a watchman in Arjun Singh’s house. Tej Bahadur and Deepu were having problems because of him. So, they decided to kill their son.

Family members of the victim alleged that the police are trying to protect the accused as no arrests have yet been made. However, the station official (SHO) told The Mooknayak that a team has been formed to investigate the incident.

‘Some pieces of steel have been recovered from the site. They have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory. One case has been registered in the victim’s complaint. Malihabad officials are investigating the matter,’ said the inspector in charge, Jai Bahadur Rai said.

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