Chouhan leads BJP protest march in Satna over killing of twins

The BJP Monday took out a silent march in the Satna city of Madhya Pradesh to protest the kidnapping and killing of two twin brothers, and demanded the death sentence for the culprits besides action against those guilty of inept investigation into the case.

The march in Satna, around 375km from Bhopal, was led by senior BJP leader and former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The main opposition party also staged protests in other parts of the state, including Bhopal, over the shocking abduction-killing of the six-year-old twins, whose father is an oil businessman, and criticised the Congress government.

The twins - Priyansh and Shreyansh - KG students and sons of medicated oil merchant Brijesh Rawat, were kidnapped at a gunpoint by two masked persons from their school's premises in Chitrakoot in Satna district on February 12.

The kidnappers later killed the minors, whose bodies were found in the Yamuna River in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, police had said Sunday.

Talking to reporters after the march, Chouhan said the state government should take measures to ensure such incidents don't recur in the future.

The Satna case should be tried in a fast-track court and the prosecution should ensure the death sentence for the culprits, Chouhan said.

Security of school and college students should be enhanced across the state, he said.

The ex-CM said those guilty of shoddy investigation should also be punished because the twins were in captivity of kidnappers for 12 days and could have been saved.

On Sunday night, Chouhan had visited the residence of Rawat to express his condolence.

The ruling Congress said this is not an issue related to politics.

"The incident of Satna was very sad. This is not an issue of politics. But, the opposition need to see the mirror.

"Why BJP people were found involved in recent crimes in Mandsaur, Ratlam and Barwani.

"Similarly, the people of BJP were also found involved in the kidnapping incident of Chitrakoot," said state Congress Media Cell Coordinator Narendra Saluja.

Rajnish Agrawal, state BJP spokesman, rejected the Congress charge and said there should be a proper probe into the crime instead of engaging in levelling allegations.

He claimed 250 incidents of murder and 400 of rape have taken place in Madhya Pradesh after the Congress came to power in December last year.

On Sunday, Inspector General (Rewa Zone) Chanchal Shekhar had said of the six accused, five hailed from Uttar Pradesh.

The victims' bodies were recovered from the river near Baberu village in Banda district late Saturday night, he had said.

The accused killed the twins on February 21 after getting a ransom of Rs 20 lakh, the officer said.

The children were residents of Ramghat in Chitrakoot Dham (Karwi) district of Uttar Pradesh. They used to travel 4 km across the border to reach their school, police had said.