A "fact-finding" team comprising Dalit rights activists, who claimed to have visited Saharanpur to probe the killing of Sachin Walia, said today that he was shot after being mistaken for his brother and Bhim Army district president Kamal Walia.
On Wednesday, unidentified assailants shot Sachin Walia in Saharanpur in western Uttar Pradesh. He succumbed to the wounds at the district hospital later, triggering tension in the area.
Speaking at a conference in Delhi against the killing, policy and advocacy officer with National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights, Kamal Chand, said: "There was a plot to kill Kamal Walia, but Sachin was mistaken for his brother as both their faces look somewhat similar and was killed. Even in videos, you can hear voices saying this is Kamal shoot him."
Chand said the "fact-finding" team members included a Delhi High Court lawyer and a few local residents.
"Despite it being a sensitive vicinity, the UP Police gave permission to conduct a function to mark the Maharana Pratap Jayanti. Though the police gave directions not to carry any weapons, the organisers and participants carried it and police did not do anything about it. This shows the cops were hand in glove with the organisers," Chand said.
He claimed Kamal was targeted because he was against holding the event in Ramnagar, nearly 50 km from Saharanpur.
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Dalit activist Ashok Bharti said Ramnagar, where celebrations on Maharana Pratap Jayanti was planned, is not a place where Thakurs or Rajputs live.
"If you see the social demography, this is a place where Muslims or Dalits live... Despite this, there were attempts to organise the event. Kamal was opposed to the event because of this fact," Bharti said.
The activists urged Dalits and minorities to participate in a protest march on May 20 on Parliament Street in Delhi.
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