New Delhi: A month after RTI activist Ranjeet Soni, 46, was shot dead in Madhya Pradesh’s Vidisha district, a ‘fact-finding committee’ formed by civil society activists has alleged that his murder is linked to his attempts to expose corruption.
The murder took place on 2 June in the compound of a Public Works Department (PWD) office.
Police have blamed Soni’s murder on “personal enmity”, and arrested five people. These include three contractors — Jaswant Raghuvanshi, S Kumar Chaube and Naresh Sharma — who allegedly hired a shooter to carry out the attack, according to a press note issued by police.
On 19 June, members of two organisations — the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information and Transparency International India — formed a committee and reached Soni’s family to investigate the circumstances of his death.
The team released a report on its findings on 5 July. Among other things, they have claimed Soni had received threats to withdraw his RTI petitions and complaints filed against “corrupt contractors”, including the three mentioned above.
According to the committee, Soni’s son had told them that, on the day of the killing, he had gone to the PWD office after receiving a phone call regarding some RTI documents.
Amrita Johri, a member of the fact-finding team, said her team plans to send its report to government officials, and follow up on the status of RTI applications and complaints filed by Soni.
The team’s report claims that Soni, who had worked with the accused on some projects as a petty contractor, had filed multiple RTI applications inquiring into alleged corruption in their work.
Johri said the fact-finding team was not part of any official organisation, adding that they were members of civil society who investigated crimes against RTI activists.
The team had earlier released another report on the attack against Rajasthan-based RTI activist Amra Ram, who was allegedly assaulted and tortured by his attackers, she added.
The police statement on Soni’s murder says that, on 3 June, Soni was supposed to present documents as proof against Raghuvanshi in a local court.
“The accused said they had previous conflicts with Soni over money and their contracting businesses. They said Soni had caused a lot of damage to their business, because of which they hatched a plan for his murder,” it further said.
Vidisha Superintendent of Police (SP) Monika Shukla said the murder was the result of “personal enmity”.
“We aren’t probing what’s mentioned in the fact-finding report. His RTI work and other matters aren’t connected to the murder,” she told ThePrint.
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Struggling to make ends meet, says activist’s wife
Speaking to ThePrint, Soni’s widow, Gayatri, said that ever since her husband’s murder, she had been struggling to provide for their two sons, aged 10 and 15, with the Rs 5,000 rent adding to her problems.
“I have received no compensation from the government till now. My only wish is for justice, and for the government to provide me with a job that can secure my house and my children’s education.”
Gayatri, 48, teaches handicraft and cooking at a Farmers’ Training Centre operated by a bank. She earns Rs 2,000 in 15 days.
“My older son wants to join NDA, and studies day and night preparing for it,” she said. “Unless we get some help, I feel my son’s dream will remain just that — a dream.”
Tanvi Trehan is a student of the Ashoka University, and an intern with ThePrint
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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