Cops thrash protesters who gathered at Kho Nagoriyan police station on Thursday

JAIPUR: A 50-year-old newspaper hawker was hacked to death by a customer with an axe in Kho Nagoriyan area here early Thursday morning.

The murder triggered huge protests bordering on communal lines and the city police had to resort to a lathi charge in which two former MLAs, a photojournalist and the kin of the deceased were injured. Following the huge protest, SHO Kho Nagoriyan Virendra Singh was suspended late on Thursday night.

For several days Mannu Lal Vaishnav had been urging one Rafique Khan, to whom he used to deliver newspapers, to clear long-pending dues. At around 6.30 am on Thursday, when Vaishanv had delivered the last newspaper in Kho Nagoriyan locality, he again asked Rafique to pay his dues. Rafique responded by attacking Vaishanv with an axe and killed him, eyewitnesses said. Vaishnav and Rafique’s houses are situated half-a-km apart but in different colonies.

“The accused was hitting the hawker like a maniac. The victim was on his bike and fell off with the very first axe stroke,” said a local who did not want to be named.

Ex-MLAs Kailash Verma, Kanhaiyalal Meena injured in lathicharge

JAIPUR: The locals later caught and beat up Rafique, who was standing there after vandalising his own auto rickshaw in a fit of rage. Deputy commissioner of police (Jaipur East) Rahul Jain said Rafique was taken to a hospital where he is undergoing treatment for critical injuries. The police said he would be arrested but his condition remained critical as he was beaten up by the locals. Some locals said the accused was mentally challenged. The police, however, said they were investigating whether the accused had a mental illness.

The FIR lodged by Vaishnav’s family alleges that Khan was accompanied by the latter’s family members in the attack. The attack was so severe that the handle of the axe came apart and fell on the road. The locals told TOI that the accused kept gazing at Vaishanv’s body when he was caught. A resident of Shankar Vihar colony in Kho Nagoriyan, Vaishnav’s family members and neighbours quickly reached the spot. Vaishnav’s family members said he had died on the spot and the police reached after that. The incident sparked off a series of protests that hinged on communal lines. The police resorted to lathicharge in which two former MLAs, Kailash Verma and Kanhaiyalal Meena, were injured. The BJP leaders later staged a dharna and demanded the suspension of the SHO as well as compensation for the victim’s family. “We had gone to file a complaint but the police threw us out and beat us up,” said Suresh, a relative of the deceased. The Jaipur police action comes a day after Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot had directed senior police officers at a review meeting on law and order to curb communal clashes and deal with the public with empathy.

