Man arrested from Rajasthan’s Balotra in connection with threat calls to slain INLD Haryana chief Nafe Rathee’s sons

Chandigarh, March 1

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The Haryana Police arrested a man in Rajasthan on Friday, a day after slain Indian National Lok Dal leader Nafe Singh Rathee’s sons claimed that they received threat calls warning them not to speak to the media about the murder.

Rathee, who was the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) Haryana chief, was shot dead by unidentified assailants in Jhajjar’s Bahadurgarh on Sunday.

“The accused has been arrested in Rajasthan’s Balotra, a place about 700 kilometres from Bahadurgarh,” a Jhajjar police official said.

He will be interrogated once he reaches Bahadurgarh, the official said, adding that further investigations in the matter were on.

The murdered INLD leader’s nephew Kapoor Singh Rathee on Thursday alleged that his uncle’s elder son Bhupinder and younger son Jatinder received 18 threat calls from an unknown number.

“The caller also sent us a picture of a weapon that he claimed he would use to eliminate the family if we did not stop talking to the media,” Kapoor Singh Rathee said over the phone from Bahadurgarh.

Bhupinder’s wife and Jatinder are councillors, Kapoor Singh Rathee said.

Rathee and INLD worker Jai Kishan were killed when unidentified assailants sprayed their vehicle with bullets. The attack, which came ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, drew sharp reactions from the opposition parties in the BJP-ruled state.

Police have named former BJP MLA Naresh Kaushik and others in the FIR registered on Monday. It also mentioned five unnamed accused. The case was registered under various Indian Penal Code sections, including 302 (murder), and the Arms Act.

In his police complaint, Nafe Singh Rathee’s nephew Rakesh said five unidentified killers, who were following them in a car, came out and fired indiscriminately near the Barahi railway crossing.

Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij on Monday said the probe into the killing of the INLD’s state unit chief will be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Senior INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala has accused the BJP-JJP government of failing to provide security to Rathee, despite there being a threat to his life.