Nahargarh death: Cops want to cover up murder of my husband, says wife
The body of Chetan Saini was found hanging from the ramparts of the Nahargarh Fort on Friday morning with strange messages scribbled on nearby stones.
Two days after the mysterious death of a man at the Nahargarh Fort, his family members slammed the police for inaction and for terming the incident as a suicide.
“My husband couldn’t have committed suicide and there is no doubt that he was murdered. The police are deliberately trying to cover up the issue and all we want is a fair investigation,” said Neetu Saini, wife of Chetan Kumar Saini.
The body of Chetan was found hanging from the ramparts of the Nahargarh Fort on Friday morning with strange messages scribbled on nearby stones.
The writings linked the death to the ongoing protests against the film Padmavati with one of the messages reading, “Those of you protesting against Padmavati, we don’t just hang effigies at forts. We have guts.”
His family on Sunday rubbished suggestions that Chetan could have written the messages before committing suicide.
“My husband had no interest in history or Padmavati and it’s absolutely impossible that he could have written those messages. We demand a CBI enquiry into the matter,” said Neetu.
She also contradicted the police, who had said that Chetan was under heavy debt. “He had taken no loans and was behaving perfectly normal till the time he went missing. His death is a conspiracy,” said Neetu.
Ram Ratan Saini, brother of the deceased, said he didn’t know why the police haven’t registered an FIR of murder even after a complaint has been submitted by the family.
What has surprised many is that the name of the deceased is similar to that of a character from Malik Mohammad Jayasi’s epic Padmavat that was inked in 1540. “Chetan Tantrik is dead,” read the particular message.
Raghav Chetan is a fictional character from Padmavat, who is a sorcerer banished from the court of Ratan Sen (Rawal Ratan Singh, in reality), the husband of Padmavati. Raghav Chetan visits Alauddin Khilji and tells him about the queen’s incredible beauty, resulting in the siege of Chittor by the Delhi sultan.
Some of the messages also have alleged communal undertones possibly to incite people.
“Several of our teams are trying to ascertain the sequence of events and to recreate the situation. If we find any evidence of foul play, then the FIR under section 174 CrPC (unnatural death) will be converted to relevant sections,” said Rajesh Meel, additional deputy commissioner of police, north.
The Congress has also criticised the police for not lodging the FIR of murder in the matter.
“So far no evidence is with the police on the basis of which it can be said that this is a case of suicide. We want fair investigation in the case and if the administration fails to act, then Congress will also raise the issue,” said district Congress president Pratap Singh Khachariawas, who met the family of Chetan on Sunday.