Family refuses to perform last rites of Rajasthan priest who was burnt alive; Demands job

Jaipur, Oct 10: Two day after the priest in Rajasthan's Karauli district, round 177 km from state capital Jaipur, died due to burn injuries after he was attacked allegedly burnt alive by land encroachers, the deceased's family on Saturday has refused to perform his last rites till all their demands are met by state govt.

Also the family has demanded Rs 50 lakhs compensation and govt job.

"We won't perform last rites of the body till our demands are met. We want Rs 50 lakhs compensation & a govt job. All accused must be arrested & action should be taken against Patwari & policemen who are supporting the accused. We want protection", said Lalit, Priest Babulal's Relative.

Meanwhile, Om Prakash Meena, SDM, Karauli, Rajasthan, family of Priest Babulal has put forth their demands. We will let govt know about their demands through senior officers. We are requesting them to perform last rites of the body, as it's been 2 days since he died."

The priest had around 5.2 acres of land which belonged to the Radha Krishna temple trust in a village in the district. The land was given to the head priest to till as a source of income.

Babu Lal Vaishnav, wanted to build a house for himself on a plot close to his land which is bordered by a small hillock. In order to start construction, he had the land levelled by an earth-mover.

Another group of people from the dominant Meena community objected to this and claimed the land as their own.

But the accused allegedly started building their own hut on the land that the priest had levelled.

This led to an altercation. The priest, whose statement before the police has been recorded, said six people poured petrol on his bales of bajra (millet) which were lying at the disputed site and set it on fire on Wednesday. He claimed they also poured petrol on him and tried to set him on fire.

Suffering burn injuries, the victim was rushed to Jaipur's SMS Hospital where he died on Thursday evening.

Main accused has been arrested since priest succumbed to his injuries.