Recently a murder story became popular on net by the headline "Dalit man killed for his stylish moustache". After this news was widespread the Rajasthan police clearified the matter on march 18 through their official twitter handle. Rajasthan  Police mentioned that the murder of Jitendrapal Meghwal,a covid health assistant working in a government hospital in Bali, on Tuesday 15th March 2022 in afternoon not due to his stylish moustache or good lifestyle but due to the case based on personal conflict of year 2020. Both the murderers have been arrested.

Let’s take you through the story in detail:

Background

It was reported on social media platforms as well as an online portal that Jitendrapal Meghwal from Barwa Village in Pali District of Rajasthan was murdered for his stylish moustache and lifestyle. This news was taken up by Rajasthan Police, who clarified through multiple tweets on their Twitter handle that personal rivalry dating back to 2020, was the prime reason for the murder. 

The Police also confirmed that both the murderers have been taken into custody. Rajasthan Police also cleared the air about some video that went viral on Twitter following the news of Jitendrapal's murder. Though the specific video in question has since been deleted, it appears from the Rajasthan Police Tweet that someone posted a video from Bharatpur district in which poilce are taking action, claiming it to be related to the said murder case. The police said that the facts stated in video are false and that the video has nothing to do with the Jitendrapal murder case, but is from Bharatpur district in which the police is conducting an investigation.

In its second Tweet, Rajasthan Police said that in regards to the Bharatpur incident, video of which was shared claiming it to be that of the incident where JItendrapal Meghwal, was killed with a knife in public, the police filed an FIR no. 219/22 under IPC sections 143, 323, 341 504, 506, 354 ,379 and Section 3 of the SC/St Act. The victim was then sent for medical. The ASP is camping on the spot and supervising the investigation. The CO and SHO are conducting raids for apprehending the second accused in the case.

Modus Operandi of the Murder

On 15 March, Suraj Singh Rajpurohit, who was working in Surat(Gujarat) along with his friend, Ramesh Singh, travelled 800 kms to Bali (Pali District, Rajasthan). On that day they made a recce of Jitendra Meghwal's schedule. After completing duty on Tuesday afternoon, Jitendra Meghwal left Bali with his friend.

The accused chased Jitendrapal Meghwal on his bike. Stopping him midway, they stabbed him in the back and chest 7 times with a knife.

The attack was so intense that Jitendrapal died while being taken to hospital at Sumerpur. Before he died, Jitendrapal had named Suraj Singh & his accomplice.

Accused arrested

After the incident the family members of Meghwal & the villagers protested outside Bali Hospital demanding arrest of the accused. The family members of the deceased refused to accept the dead body & sat in a tent in front of the government hospital on Badi Sadri road.

Finally, the police arrested both the accused from Pachpadra in Barmer district of Rajasthan on 17 March.