MP Govt recommends CBI inquiry into Nemawar killings

Bhopal : Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday recommended a CBI inquiry in the ‘Nemawar massacre’ case in which five persons of a Dalit tribal family were killed in Dewas district in May this year.

The recommendation for the CBI probe came more than six months after the skeletons of all the five persons who were murdered by strangulation were exhumed from a 10-feet-deep pit in Nemawar town of Dewas district. The police had to employ a JCB machine to dig out the bodies.

The incident had then not only shaken the entire tribal dominated areas in the state but led to political barbs between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress. The Congress had been demanding a CBI probe in the case. So far, the case was being handled by the state police.

The decision to hand over the case to the CBI has come at a time when the lone survivor from the victims’ family, Bharti Kasde has announced a ‘Nyay Yatra’ (March for justice) from January 1. “A CBI inquiry has been recommended in the matter but it is only half justice to my family. Nyay Yatra to be launched from January 1,” said Bharti Kasde.

The five persons whose skeletons were recovered from a pit were identified as Mamta Bai Kaste (45), her daughters Rupali (21) and Divya (14) along with relatives Puja Oswal (15) and Pawan Oswal (14).

The police had arrested six persons in the case. The state government has given Rs 41 lakh as compensation to the family of the victims.

As per the police, prime accused Surendra Chauhan had an affair with Rupali and he also used to visit their home in Nemawar. Chauhan convinced Pawan to get Rupali and his family members to the spot where they were stripped, killed and buried inside a pit. The police said the killers covered the bodies of the accused with salt and urea to ensure they decomposed at the earliest.

“Surendra had an affair with Rupali but he was about to marry someone else. When Rupali came to know about it, she posted a picture of Surendra’s fiancee on a social networking site along with her number, which infuriated Surendra. He then planned to eliminate her and others as he suspected that all of them were conspiring to break his engagement,” the police had stated earlier.