The police have made the first arrest in the brutal murder of Rajput leader and Karni Sena chief Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi, who was shot dead by “house guests” at his Jaipur home.
Ramveer, who allegedly helped the shooters – Rohit and Nitin – flee the spot on his bike and dropped them off at Ajmer Road, has been arrested, the police said. He lived in the same village as Nitin, they added.
Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi was sipping tea with four men at his Jaipur home around noon on December 5, when suddenly, in the middle of a conversation, two of the men got up from their chairs and fired indiscriminately at Mr Gogamedi leaving him in a pool of blood on the floor.
The Rajput leader’s sensational murder, caught on CCTV cameras, sparked massive protests in Rajasthan which is going through a regime change after the BJP wrested power from the ruling Congress government in the recently held assembly elections.
During the shooting at Mr Gogamedi’s home, one of the three shooters, identified as Naveen Singh Shekhawat, was killed in the crossfire. One of Mr Gogamedi’s security guards was also critically injured in the firing.
Gangster Rohit Godara, closely associated with Goldie Brar and Lawrence Bishnoi’s gangs, had claimed responsibility for the murder.
Following the murder, the leader’s supporters called a Rajasthan bandh. His supporters blocked the Shipra Path road outside the hospital, where he was rushed after being shot, and demanded that the accused be arrested immediately. Besides Jaipur, protests erupted in the state’s Churu, Udaipur, Alwar, and Jodhpur districts.
The BJP, which has come to power after the recently-concluded assembly election but is yet to swear in a Chief Minister in the state, sought a probe by the anti-terror agency NIA into the murder.
Two police personnel – the station house officer (SHO) and a beat constable – were suspended for “negligence”, the leader’s wife, Sheela Shekhawat, told reporters on on December 7. “We have been assured that the accused will be arrested within 72 hours,” she said.
Ms Shekhawat had earlier claimed that her husband was not provided security despite his letters to former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and the state police chief on several occasions, expressing apprehension about a threat to his life.
In the FIR filed after Mr Gogamedi’s killing, Ms Shekhawat claimed that the Punjab Police had written to the Rajasthan Director General of Police Umesh Mishra in February about a plot to murder her husband. A similar input also came from the Jaipur Anti-Terror Squad, she said, alleging that Ashok Gehlot and Mr Mishra did not grant security cover to Mr Gogamedi despite the threats.
However, Mr Gogamedi had a history sheet with 30 cases against him, which may have come in the way of granting him police bodyguards. The last case was registered in 2016 for extortion.
Three men shot Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi multiple times from point-blank range at his Jaipur home on Tuesday. While one of them was killed in the crossfire, two others managed to flee.
