Municipality chairman booked for abusing, beating up sweeper in Rajasthan

The municipality chairman of Sangod in Rajasthan's Kota district has been booked for allegedly abusing and beating up a sweeper, who was carting away a cow's carcass by dragging it with a tractor-trailer, police said on Sunday.

The municipality chairman, Devkinandan Rathore, was booked under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act on Saturday for beating up and abusing contractual sweeper Rajkumar Valmiki, said Station House Officer (SHO) Dhanraj Meena.

Police have launched an investigation into the matter and recorded the statements of Valmiki and the eye witnesses, the SHO said, adding that no arrest had been made so far.

Valmiki told police that he was taking the carcass away on Saturday afternoon by using a tractor-trailer as there was no other facility available to shift dead animals.

When he was crossing a market area, Rathore reached the spot, hurled abuses and manhandled him, the SHO said citing Valmiki's statement.

A video of the incident was uploaded on social media but police later removed it and blocked the video's source, the SHO said.

He said the matter had been handed over to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Rameshwar Parihar for further investigation.

Apparently, a cow vigilante had informed Rathore about Valmiki taking the cow's carcass through the market.