Senior INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala on Friday defended his party’s state unit chief Nafe Singh Rathi, saying the FIR lodged against him was part of a “political conspiracy”. He also demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter.
Former Haryana minister demanded the death of Ram Rathi’s son
Jagdish Rathi (55), son of former Haryana minister Mange Ram Rathi, allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison at Bahadurgarh in Jhajjar on Wednesday and six people, including Nafe Singh Rathi, have been booked for abetment.
Police said that on December 26 last year, Jagdish Rathi had circulated an audio clip in which he alleged that some people were harassing him and that he would be responsible if anything happens to him.
Chautala said the FIR has been registered against Nafe Singh Rathi as part of a “political conspiracy”.
The Ellenabad MP said that on 27 December 2022, after the audio clip went viral, Nafe Singh Rathi had applied to the police to investigate the matter.
“At that time Jagdish was called to the police station and interrogated by the SHO and the DSP. Jagdish went to the police station and gave a statement that he was under the influence of alcohol and did it by mistake,” he said.
At the police station, Jagdish talked about hush-hush the matter and said that he would apologize after meeting Nafe Singh Rathi. Inquiries were done,” said Chautala.
He claimed that on the day Jagdish Rathi committed suicide, his younger brother had come to meet him.
He said, “If something was troubling Jagdish, he (Jagdish Rathi’s brother) would have mentioned it to me.”
Chautala said that if anyone is guilty, he should be arrested, but the police should not be used in this way to defame the INLD.
The INLD leader also demanded a CBI probe into the suicide case and the sexual harassment complaint filed by a lady coach against Haryana minister Sandeep Singh.
He said that the truth will come out only when both the cases are impartially investigated.
Chautala said he would launch a statewide padyatra on February 20 to expose the “scams and corruption” of the BJP-JJP coalition government.
“The BJP-JJP coalition government is afraid of this yatra…that we will go to every village and town to expose the scams and corruption of the government, how they have plunged Haryana into huge debt and how they are on all fronts have failed.” They said.
He said that the padyatra would cover all the 90 assembly constituencies of Haryana.
(with PTI inputs)