Kathua rape case: Irate mob attack BJP minister's convoy, seeks CBI probe

An irate mob today stopped the vehicle of BJP minister Sham Lal Chaudhary as they pressed for a CBI probe into the Kathua rape-murder incident.

The public health engineering minister was on his way to attend a board meeting when the slogan-shouting crowd gheraoed his car at Kootah Morh in Hiranagar area, officials said.

The group also pelted stones at the minister's vehicle, but the police swiftly cleared the crowd, they said.

The crime branch has arrested eight persons, including a juvenile, for allegedly raping and murdering an 8-year-old girl from a nomadic community at Kathua recently.

Meanwhile, JK BJP in-charge (IT and social media) Jai Dev Rajwal came out in support of a 'factual' report submitted by five women to the Centre over the Kathua incident.

The group of five women had submitted the report to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh, and demanded a CBI probe into the incident.

The report claimed that the charge sheet filed by the Jammu and Kashmir crime branch in the case had discrepancies and the investigation was "botched-up".

Rajwal also defended posting of the report on party website.

Loading the video (of the report) on the BJP official website is not an endorsement of their findings. It was already in public domain and since the people of Jammu are interested, we uploaded the video, he said.

"The stand of the party is well known in this case. The case is before the court and whatever the outcome, the BJP will respect the order which will be final, Rajwal added.