Nafe Singh Rathi murder case: CBI files chargesheet against 4 accused

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Chandigarh, June 1

The CBI yesterday filed a chargesheet against four persons in the murder case of INLD state president Nafe Singh Rathi.

The alleged shooters — Ashish, alias Baba, and Sachin, alias Sourav, along with Dharmender Rana and Amit Gulia — are named in the chargesheet filed on the charges of murder, criminal conspiracy, attempt to murder and under the Arms Act.

On February 25, four shooters had opened fire at Rathi’s SUV at the Barahi level crossing in Bahadurgarh (Jhajjar). As per the FIR, the attack took place around 5.15 pm when Rathi, his nephew Rakesh, who was driving the SUV, Jai Kishan Dalal of Mandothi village and Sanjeet of Kablana village were returning from Aasodha village after attending a function.

In his complaint to the Jhajjar police, Rakesh had said, “I tried to drive the SUV fast as a white car was chasing us. But as the level crossing was closed, we were forced to stop the vehicle. Five armed youths hurriedly disembarked from the white car and started firing at us indiscriminately. My maternal uncle (Rathi) and Jai Kishan died on the spot while Sanjeet sustained critical injuries. I, too, got bullet injuries on an arm, ribs and thigh. A passerby later drove our SUV to a hospital.”

Initially, the names of seven persons, including former BJP MLA from Bahadurgarh Naresh Kaushik, and five unknown persons were mentioned in the FIR. During investigation, the Jhajjar police had arrested Ashish and Sachin from Goa. According to the police, they had allegedly shot at Rathi’s car along with two others, who were yet to be arrested. After killing Rathi, the duo had boarded a train to Ahmedabad and from there, they went to Mumbai and then to Goa.

Rana had allegedly provided an i-20 car to the shooters. The Jhajjar police had also arrested him. Rana is an accused in two cases of murder, cases of opening fire and extortion registered in various police stations of Delhi.

Amit Gulia was lodged in jail at the time of the crime.