On Saturday, the crime branch of Mumbai nabbed a 22-year-old Bharat Jayantilal Raval alias Maharaj, from Malad on charges of murdering a dalit lawyer and activist Devjibhai Maheshwari in Kutch in Gujarat, an official said. The accused is a resident of Tirupatinagar in Kutch.
As per the reports, Devji Maheshwari, the deceased, was a senior activist of the All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF) and of the Indian Legal Professionals Association.
The accused told investigators that he had a clash with Maheshwari over his views on Brahminism earlier as well.
He said that he had warned Maheshwari in the past against doing so. But again Maheshwari had uploaded some posts on Facebook against Brahmans, the official said.
According to the police, “Maheshwari wrote and shared posts critical of Brahminism on his Facebook page.
Raval disagreed with those views and warned Maheshwari on several occasions to refrain from writing such posts publicly,” as per the reports of a Crime Branch official.
Maheshwari had posted a video on his social media account of BAMCEF National President Waman Meshram saying that members of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes are not Hindus.
“Raval, who is Brahmin, had asked Maheshwari not to create trouble since both of them are from the same village. He also threatened him at his office once. But Maheshwari told him that he would not back down and challenged him to do what he liked,” said the official.
They had allegedly clashed repeatedly over the same issue for a month.
“The accused said Maheshwari had posted some communal content on Facebook, following which he killed him,” the official said. He has been handed over to the Gujarat Police for further investigation, he added.
The family of the victim is now seeking a CBI probe into the murder.
The body of Maheshwari has been left at a government hospital because his family has refused to accept it until all the accused are arrested.
Raval has been booked under charges of murder and criminal conspiracy and under sections of the SC/ST Act at Rapar police station.
The Gujarat police have reportedly registered an FIR against nine accused, including Raval.
After the Dalit community in Rapar took to the streets on Saturday, police arrested five of the nine accused, besides Raval. The others are absconding.