Gurugram: Charges of abetment of suicide against Indian National Lok Dal’s Haryana president Nafe Singh Rathee, ahead of senior party leader Abhay Singh Chautala’s scheduled padyatra in the state, starting 20 February, has come as an embarrassment for the party.
Nafe Singh is among six accused, booked by Haryana Police in former state minister Mange Ram Rathi’s son, Jagdish’s death by suicide Wednesday, and Chautala claimed Friday that the allegations against the state INLD chief were a “political conspiracy”.
“Jagdish Rathi (55), son of former Minister Mange Ram Rathi committed suicide on Wednesday evening by consuming poison. In this case, six accused have been booked for abetment,” police told the media Thursday. A Haryana Police spokesperson confirmed Nafe Singh to be among the accused.
The case against Nafe Singh and the others were registered based on a complaint filed by Jagdish’s family, said police. According to the family the accused were trying to harass Jagdish in a property-related matter and as a result he was under great stress, police added.
ThePrint reached Nafe Singh over phone for comment but received no response till the time of publication of this report. But Chautala addressed a press conference at his Gurugram residence Friday where he claimed a video went viral on social media on 26 December, in which Jagdish Rathi was seen leveling allegations against several people. He alleged that the man who made this video viral is a member of Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), which is part of the current coalition government in Haryana, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
“On 27 December, Nafe Singh Rathee himself went to the police station (he was mentioned in the video) and demanded an inquiry. Jagdish was summoned to the police station where he told the police that it was his mistake to record the video,” Chautala claimed.
He said that if Nafe Singh had been at fault police should have questioned him by summoning him to the police station at that time. But now, the police were trying to create terror by constituting a special investigation team (SIT) and raiding Nafe Singh’s residence, Chautala alleged.
Also read: Khemka vs Verma: In Haryana IAS-IAS battle, FIRs, tweets & now a corruption charge
The controversial video clip
According to Chautala, the day Jagdish died of suicide, “his younger brother had come to me. Had there been any instance of harassment by Nafe Singh, Jagdish’s brother could have told me”. The senior INLD leader added, however, that if found guilty, he would not shield Nafe Singh.
Police too admitted of the 26 December video, but claimed Jagdish had refused to submit a formal complaint at the time.
“On 26 December, Jagdish had circulated an audio clip in which he alleged that these people (the six accused) had been harassing him and if anything happened to him they will be responsible,” Haryana Police has been quoted as saying.
The police spokesperson further said that “at that time police had approached him (Jagdish) to submit a complaint, but he did not. On Wednesday evening he committed suicide and a case was registered.”
The controversy over Nafe Singh’s alleged involvement in Jagdish’s death comes weeks ahead of the scheduled beginning of Chautala’s seven-month padyatra on 20 February. The walk is reportedly being held to revive INLD presence in Haryana. The party has been reduced to just one seat in the state assembly from being the ruling party between 1999 and 2005.
Chautala is scheduled to begin his padyatra from Nuh on 20 February, and it will conclude on 25 September, the birth anniversary of former deputy PM and party founder Devi Lal, after covering all 90 assembly segments of Haryana.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
Also read: Haryana sarpanches are gearing up for bigger stir against Khattar govt’s e-tendering rule