Himmat Patidar, who is believed to be a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activist from Ratlam, allegedly killed his farm labourer Madan Malviya last week and burned his face to pass off the body as his own in order to mislead the police and claim the insurance money totalling Rs 20 lakh to repay his debts.
Himmat Patidar and Madan Malviya.
Ratlam: BJP had raised a huge stink over an RSS worker’s murder in Madhya Pradesh and pointed fingers at the new Congress government in power, accusing them of deteriorating law and order in the state.
Himmat Patidar, who is believed to be a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activist from Ratlam, allegedly killed his farm labourer Madan Malviya last week and burned his face to pass off the body as his own in order to mislead the police and claim the insurance money totalling Rs 20 lakh to repay his debts.
Patidar is alive and is on the run, a senior police officer said.
Tiwari said police had initially suspected Malviya had killed Patidar, but they grew suspicious after finding a diary near the body which contained details like Patidar’s insurance number, fixed deposits, bank PIN numbers. Police also found a mobile phone next to the body, but the call data had been erased.
“This prompted us to order DNA test of the victim,” Tiwari said adding that the test revealed that the body was that of Malviya’s and not Patidar’s.
Ratlam Additional Superintendent of Police Pradip Sharma said Patidar had initially tried to sever Malviya’s head. When he could not, Patidar burned Malviya’s face and planted his mobile phone, Aadhaar card, and a diary near Malviya’s body, Sharma said.
Police have established the identity of the deceased Malviya through DNA test, Ratlam Superintendent of Police Gaurav Tiwari told reporters in a press conference.
The SP clarified that though Patidar used to attend RSS ‘shakhas’, he was not holding any post in the BJP’s parent organisation. Patidar’s brother Sanjay Patidar is said to be associated with the RSS. He is the district RSS music band chief. It was earlier reported that Patidar was a former Karyawah (secretary) of Shivpur Mandal.
Suggesting that Patidar’s planning was meticulous but for a flaw, the SP said the accused dressed the victim in his own clothes after killing him but didn’t change his under-pant, an oversight that revealed the true identity of the deceased.
“The accused failed to change the deceased’s underwear with his own which ultimately led to the identification of Malviya by his wife,” the senior police officer said.
When asked about the probable motive behind the crime, the SP said Patidar could have hatched the conspiracy to fake his own killing to claim the insurance sum totalling Rs 20 lakh to repay his loan.
“Patidar had got himself insured through the State Bank of India for Rs. 20 lakh sometime back and made his wife his nominee. He had taken some loan. He was also into money lending,” the SP said, adding that he might have plotted the crime to claim the insurance money to repay his debt.
Police have announced a reward of Rs 10,000 for any information on whereabouts of Patidar, the SP added.
Police are also probing whether Patidar’s family was involved in the crime, as it was his father who had informed them about his missing son. The SP said Patidar’s father had identified the body, whose face was burnt, as it was clad in the clothes worn by his son along with his belongings.
Referring to a tweet by former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan after the Ratlam murder, Home Minister Bala Bachchan Monday asked if Chouhan will also visit the house Malviya, a Dalit. “The BJP’s original character has come to light. Himmat Patidar has turned out to be killer. BJP workers are taking the law into their hands but the party is passing the blame to us,’’ Bachchan said in Bhopal.