Plea in SC seeks investigation in Rajkot self-immolation case

The Supreme Court is likely to hear soon a plea seeking investigation into a four-year old incident in which five members of a Nepalese family had set themselves ablaze and died at Rajkot in Gujarat.
The plea, filed by Rajkot resident Kaushik Chandrakantbhai Vyas who claims to be a witness in the 2013 case, is listed before a bench comprising Justices A K Goel and U U Lalit.
It has sought an independent investigation into the suicide committed by Bharat Mansinhbhai Vishwakarma and his four family members.
The plea, filed through advocate Pyoli Swatija, alleged that one of the victims in his dying declaration had alleged that the present Gujarat Chief Minister was "indirectly responsible" and the police had not probed his alleged role.

It has also alleged that the BJP leader had "abused his official position" by threatening the petitioner and scuttled the probe into the suicide by the five members of the Nepalese family.
In 2013, the five had committed suicide at the Rajkot Municipal Corporation office premises fearing eviction from the society they had been living in for over three decades.

The corporation had issued them notices for eviction. Their plea challenging the eviction had been rejected by a local court. They were residing at the common plot of Chhotunagar cooperative housing society in the Raiya area of Rajkot. Following the incident, they succumbed to injuries.

The deceased were Bharat Mansingh Vishwakarma (40), his wife Asha (35) and brother Girish (27) and two other family members, Rekha (30) and Vasumati (60).
Girish, in his dying declaration, named BJP Councillors Kamlesh Mirani and Rajbha Zala and alleged that they had threatened to evict the family members from their house in Chhotunagar Cooperative Housing Society.