The Tribune March 4, 1999
Villagers up in arms over murder probe
Tribune News Service
ROHTAK, March 4 — Assurances of conducting a CBI inquiry into the abduction and murder of two school-going boys of Jassia village by the government has failed to calm down the agitated villagers. The two boys — Ravinder (14) and Rajesh (16) — were allegedly kidnapped by unidentified persons in a vehicle on February 22 and their bodies were recovered on the following day from a roadside dhaba near Rookhi village. Shocked over the incident, the villagers blocked traffic on the Rohtak-Gohana road on February 23 to demand immediate arrest of the culprits. Later, the panchayat of Hooda Chaubisi was convened at Jassia on February 26 which asked the police to either arrest the culprits by 7 a.m. on February 27 or face road and rail blockade after the expiry of the ultimatum. The road and rail blockade on February 27 was unprecedented but late in the evening on the same day the Hooda Chaubisi panchayat, the Meham Chaubisi panchayat and Malik Barah Panchayat (12 villages of Malik gotra) jointly offered to withdraw the agitation if the inquiry was entrusted to the CBI. The administration, unnerved over the agitation, immediately contacted the Chief Minister who lost no time in agreeing to the CBI probe. The sitting Sarpanch of Jassia, Mr Suraj Bhan, and former sarpanches Bajhe Singh and Ram Phal and nambardar Ram Mehar today said mere assurances of a CBI inquiry had not satisfied the village youth. They demanded the government should take a decision within 10 days. The village leaders also demanded that the aggrieved families should be paid Rs 5 lakh each and till the CBI starts its inquiry the district police should be directed to arrest the culprits. The district police, which appears clueless and apparently groping in the dark, was reportedly again interrogating ASI Ram Parkash of Baroda (Sonepat) police station and two constables of the same police station. ASI Ram Parkash, accompanied by the two constables, was the first to reach the spot from where the bodies of Ravinder and Rajesh were recovered. It is alleged that Rajesh was still alive and writhing in pain when the ASI and these constables arrived at the scene during the course of patrol duty. Rajesh had, it is further alleged, disclosed the identity of their abductors and murderers to the ASI and the constables. The ASI reportedly denied this and said Rajesh had only disclosed his identity before breathing his last.
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