Four members of a family, including a six-month-old girl, were killed and their bodies were set on fire in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur district on Wednesday, reported the Hindustan Times.
Assistant Sub Inspector Amanaram said that the attackers slit the throats of Poonaram (55), his wife Bhanwari (50), daughter-in-law Dhapu (24) and six-month-old granddaughter Manisha in the Cheria village.
“Subsequently, the killers dragged the bodies to the courtyard of their house and set them on fire,” he added.
The bodies were found on Wednesday morning after villagers saw smoke billowing out of the victims’ home. They said that Poonaram’s son had left for work in a stone quarry on Tuesday night, reported PTI.
Police officials said that the child’s body was completely charred while others were partially burnt. They added that the victims were farmers and that they were attacked during their asleep.
Superintendent of Police (Jodhpur Rural) Dharmendra Singh Yadav said that preliminary investigation showed that the murders could be a fallout of family dispute, PTI reported. Hours later, Inspector General of Police Jainarayan Sher told PTI that a relative of the family has been taken into custody and was being questioned.
The Bharatiya Janta Party targeted the ruling Congress government over the deaths, highlighting the fact that Jodhpur is Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s constituency.
BJP state president Chandra Prakash Joshi said that the tragedy shows that law and order apparatus in Rajasthan has collapsed.
“Be it law and order, rising corruption, crime against women and SC [Scheduled Castes]/STs [Scheduled Tribes], paper leaks or fulfilling its promise of complete farm loan waiver and unemployment allowance, the government has failed on its accountability,” Joshi said at a press conference.
Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, who is the Bikaner MP, alleged that 17 rapes and seven murders are reported in Rajasthan daily since the Congress government came to power in 2018, reported NDTV.
Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi told the House that the state government will give a statement about the murders at 5 pm.
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