Naidu visits lynched e-rickshaw driver's house

Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Monday visited the family of the deceased e-rickshaw driver, who was lynched on Saturday evening for trying to stop people from urinating in public and promoting "Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan".

The Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation also handed over a cheque of Rs 50,000 to the kin of the deceased driver.

Speaking to reporters, Naidu said: "I was shocked over the incident as our Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been trying to make people aware about Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan."

"But he (Ravindra Kumar) was killed brutally because he asked two people not to urinate in public... it's very shocking," the minister said.

Naidu was accompanied by Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Manoj Tiwari.

Earlier in the day, Naidu spoke to Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik and sought action against the culprits.

The Delhi Police on Monday questioned over 20 people in connection with the murder of the e-rickshaw driver.

The minister's remarks came after 32-year-old Ravinder Kumar was lynched on Saturday by a group of 15 youths, including two reportedly from the Delhi University, after he objected to two of them urinating near the GTB Nagar Metro station.

The youths used towels filled with stones to hit him, a friend of Kumar and a witness said. None from the public watching the lynching came forward to help Kumar, who died on the spot.

--IANS

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