Poachers kill farmer in Jailsalmer; agitating villagers pelt stones at police 

A mob, protesting after poachers killed a 50-year-old farmer in a village in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer district, pelted stones at police on Thursday, prompting them to use force to disperse the mob and restore order, an official said.

The angry villagers had torched a shop and a dumper truck on Wednesday night.

Three accused have been detained in connection with the farmer’s death, while over two dozen people were detained in connection with stone-pelting and damaging properties, the official said.

According to Jaisalmer Superintendent of Police Abhishek Shivhare, the incident that triggered the protests happened in Dangri village on Tuesday night, when farmer Khet Singh had stayed back in his field. The three poachers—identified as Ladu Khan, Alam Khan and Khete Khan—attacked Singh after he stopped them from hunting deer.

Singh lay injured throughout the night and was spotted by some farmers the next morning. He was rushed to a hospital in Fatehgarh in a critical condition, from where he was referred to another hospital in Barmer. However, Singh succumbed to his injuries there, SP Shivhare said.

Angry over the incident, villagers set fire to a tyre-tube shop belonging to one of the suspects on Wednesday night. They also burnt a dumper truck.

In view of the tensions, police force was deployed at the spot. The agitating villagers on Thursday pelted stones at the police, who used force to disperse the mob. The situation has been brought under control, the SP said.

He said the area is currently under heavy force deployment. Villagers have been asked to stay inside their homes and the entry of outsiders into the village has been restricted, he added.

Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Thursday condemned the farmer’s murder, and said that such incidents have no place in a democratic society.

Meanwhile, former chief minister Ashok Gehlot targeted the BJP government over the incident.

“Jungle raj is at its peak in Rajasthan. The killing of a man in Jaisalmer merely for stopping some people from hunting shows how unsafe the common man has become and how dominant lawlessness has grown,” Gehlot said in a statement.