Rahul Gandhi in Maha today to meet kin of Dalit man found dead in judicial custody

Parbhani (Maharashtra):  Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will visit Parbhani on Monday where a local Dalit youth was found dead in judicial custody after the recent violence that hit the town following the desecration of a statue of Dr B. R. Ambedkar, party officials said here.

During his brief visit, Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to meet the bereaved families of Somnath Vyankat Suryawanshi, 35, who was studying his LlB, and another Dalit social worker Vijay Wakode, who suffered a heart attack and succumbed while attempting to control the rampaging mobs on December 11-12.

The Congress leader will reach Nanded by a special flight later this morning and then drive down to Parbhani where he will call on the two Dalit families who lost their near and dear ones.

He will be accompanied by top leaders of his party Ramesh Chennithala, state President Nana Patole, MPs Dr Shivaji Kalge, Ravindra V. Chavan, Dr Kalyan Kale, MLAs Vijay Wadettiwar, Amit Deshmukh, Vijay Balasaheb Thorat, President of State SC Department Siddhath Hattiambire, Nana Gawande, Atul Londhe and others.

Hailing from the Wadar community, Suryawanshi was arrested in connection with the violent incidents that ensued after the desecration of a statue of Dr Ambedkar near Parbhani Railway Station on December 10, by one ‘mentally disturbed’ person named Sopan Pawar.

After the sacrilege, a violent and tense shutdown was observed in Parbhani, while the local police swooped down and detained/arrested around 300 persons, mostly Dalits, including Suryawanshi on December 12.

Barely 72 hours later, Suryawanshi was found dead in judicial custody, sparking a massive furore with the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and INDIA bloc allies raising the issue at multiple levels.

The MVA allies Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (SP)-Shiv Sena (UBT), Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), plus the CPI (Marxist), Republican Party of India (A), Republican Sena, Republican Party of India(K), and many other Dalit groups slammed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party Mahayuti regime for the incident.

Following the uproar inside the Maharashtra Legislature in Nagpur and outside, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced compensation for the bereaved family, ordered a judicial probe and appointed a Special Investigation Team of the police to get to the depth of the matter.

Earlier, the Parbhani Police had claimed that Suryawanshi had complained of chest pain and was rushed to hospital for treatment, even as some Opposition leaders claimed attempts to make Parbhani into a caste-riots issue on the line of the Koregaon-Bhima (Pune) incidents of January 1, 2018.

However, a provisional autopsy report from the Government Medical College, Aurangabad had stated that he succumbed to “shock following multiple injuries”, snowballing into a huge political row.

The MVA and Dalit leaders had vociferously alleged that he was brutally beaten by the police and had succumbed to grave injuries, as was later confirmed by the provisional post-mortem report of December 16.

Last weekend, Nationalist Congress Party(SP) President Sharad Pawar went to the Parbhani and also to Beed where the Massajog village Sarpanch (Headman) Santosh Deshmukh was tortured and killed a fortnight ago, sparking a massive political-social outcry.

Following this, Nationalist Congress Party chief and Deputy CM Ajit A. Pawar also rushed to Beed and met the bereaved family as a senior Minister of his party came under a cloud in the killing.

–IANS