Demand for CID probe into political killing of a tribal youth

THANE: Vasai MLA Vivek Pandit, who is also president of the Shramajivi Sanghatana, an organisation which works for the uplift of tribals, demanded a CID enquiry into the brutal killing of an Adivasi youth from Dade village of Beed district, last month. The demand was made in a memorandum to Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil.

He told PTI that it was on April 25, when the tribal youth Sanjay alias Buntya Gaikwad (35) was first shot in broad daylight, in the main market and later stabbed to death. The police has arrested eight persons in connection with the brutal killing, but the main culprit behind the killing went scot free, due to political pressure exerted on the police, he alleged.

He said that the victim, who had initially worked for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for this Lok Sabha election, began working for the BJP, which annoyed his killers, who accomplished their conspiracy successfully. The victim is survived by his two wives, five children and relatives, who have raised serious doubts about the local police investigations and supported Pandit's demand for a CID enquiry into the political killing.

Pandit has alleged that the local police has been biased since the main accused is a powerful and influential politician of the region. Meanwhile, the police has arrested the blacksmith from whom the killers allegedly got the choppers, as well as the cook who served food to the killers who stayed together before committing the murder, police sources said.