Gehlot announces relief package of Rs 5 lakh for families of Junaid, Nasir

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday announced a relief package of Rs 5 lakh each for families of Junaid and Nasir, whose charred bodies were found in Haryana's Bhiwani district after they were abducted from Bharatpur.

"The state government will provide Rs 5 lakh compensation each to the wives and children of both the deceased. An amount of Rs 1 lakh each will be provided as cash whereas a fixed deposit of Rs 4 lakh each will be done so that the dependent families do not face any problem in the education and marriage of the kids," he told reporters.

The chief minister had met the family members of Junaid and Nasir at a temporary arrangement made near a helipad in Ghatmeeka village.

He was accompanied by Tourism Minister Vishvendra Singh, Minister of State for Education and local MLA Zahida Khan, Congress state unit chief Govind Singh Dotasra, Chief Secretary Usha Sharma and DGP Umesh Mishra.

Nasir (25) and Junaid alias Juna (35), both residents of Ghatmeeka village in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan, were allegedly abducted by cow vigilantes on February 15 and their bodies were found inside a burnt car in Loharu in Bhiwani in Haryana on the morning of February 16.

Nasir is survived by his wife, while Junaid is survived by his wife, six children and a mentally challenged brother.

Gehlot also said that he will talk to his Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar to take the incident with utmost seriousness as it is of similar nature to the incident that happened in Udaipur where a tailor was hacked to death.

He said his government is committed to arresting the accused at the earliest and submit the charge sheet. Such a crime deserves nothing less than death penalty, he said.

A total of nine accused, including Bajrang Dal member Monu Manesar who runs a cow protection group, and Srikant Pandit, whose mother lodged a complaint against the Rajasthan Police, have been named in the case so far.

The accused have been booked under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 365 (kidnapping), 367 (grievously hurt after kidnapping) and 368 (wrongfully keeping in confinement) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Two more IPC sections -- 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence) -- were later added, police said.

Junaid had a criminal record of cattle smuggling and five cases were registered against him at different police stations, they said.