Four men have been arrested for the murder of a master mason belonging to a Scheduled Caste (SC) community in Meerut, the police said on Saturday, a day after the incident resulted in an uproar on social media.
According to an officer, the victim, Indrashekhar Jatav, was allegedly killed and his body hung from a tree on Friday by one of the arrested men, Vijaypal Singh, a local strongman, and his supporters.
“One master mason who was making a house has been murdered by the house owner and three other people over a monetary dispute under the limits of the Parikshitgarh police station. The accused have been arrested and the victim’s family is being provided financial help according to rules,” a statement by the Meerut Police said. Action is being taken under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, it added.
Dalit activist Chandrashekhar Azad demanded strictest action from the State government on social media platform X. “How fearless are the criminals in Uttar Pradesh, that the criminals themselves are calling the police and saying, “he has been killed and hanged, take away the body.” Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ji, this dead body of Indrashekhar Jatav is not hanging, this is the law and order situation in the state under your rule, which is hanging. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is holding Dalit conferences in U.P., should also tell in its conference that in their government, Dalits are beaten to death, hanged on trees when they ask for their money,” Mr. Azad, president of Azad Samaj Party (ASP) posted on X.
