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Rajputs demand CBI probe into firing case

Special Correspondent

`Police had started a witch-hunt against the community'

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Government's action of suspending two police officers and registration of FIR in a firing incident in Didwana this past week -- in which two Jat youths were killed in broad daylight -- has led to resentment among Rajputs, who have accused the Government of showing bias and demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter. Leaders of the Rajput Sabha, who had earlier decided to hold a massive rally outside the Secretariat here on Tuesday to protest against the Government's action, deferred their plan till July 20 following talks with Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Rathore and Parliamentary Secretary Bhawani Singh Rajawat here on Monday.

The Rajput leaders, while calling for a CBI inquiry into the incident and withdrawal of police officers' suspension, have alleged that the police probe into the matter had turned into a witch-hunt against the community, as most of the 16 persons named in the FIR are Rajputs.

Mr. Kataria, who had initially described the firing incident as a gang-war, on Monday said the probe into the incident would be completed within the next 15 days. "While no culprit will be spared, we will ensure that no innocent person is falsely implicated," he said.

However, the agitation of Rajputs with the charge that the State Government acted under pressure from Jats threatens to blow up into a Jat-Rajput confrontation unless the Government succeeds in placating both the sides. Rajputs in all districts being mobilised to assemble in huge numbers in the Jaipur rally have now been told to "wait and watch".

Monday's negotiations with the president of Rajput Sabha, Narendra Singh Rajawat, MLA Devi Singh Bhati and former MLA Udai Singh Rathore were held after the failure of talks with the Government's representatives.

With Rajputs claiming that the young of the community were being made scapegoats, the police have formed a special investigating team, headed by Ajmer Inspector-General of Police, to probe into the case. Despite the accused having been named in the FIR, no arrest has been made so far.

Five members of Jat community were injured in indiscriminate firing by a group of assailants who arrived in main market at Didwana in Nagaur district on Tuesday last. They were rushed to Sawai Man Singh Hospital where two of them succumbed.

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