A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), swayamsevak was shot dead by miscreants in the Dhanbad district of Jharkhand on July 11. The attackers are yet to be identified by the police. The victim has been identified as Shankar Prasad Dey.
Prasad was the district convener of Vanvasi Kalyan Kendra and Jila Sampark Pramukh.
On July 12 morning, the police found his body near Duma village which falls under the Tundi police station limits, police said, adding an investigation into the matter has been launched.
“We came to know about the incident today (July 12) morning. He was shot at least six to seven times,” Parimal Dey, nephew of Prasad said.
Organiser called up the Purvi Tundi police station on July 12, the Station House Officer said, a First Information Report (number–41/2023) has been registered in this case. Three accused have been nabbed by the police, but the officer refused to disclose the name of the culprits.
He added, all these accused have been booked under IPC sections 302 (murder) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) with sections 77 of the Arms Act.
The reason behind the killing is not yet known, police said.
It is pertinent to mention that, Prasad was also a member of the Gram Raksha Dal, a vigilante group active in the regions having porous borders. These groups are made by the local administration. The area he lived in is called Purvi Tundi where cases of cow smuggling are rampant. Prasad was actively working against the smugglers.
As per the sources, last week only, Dey with his team members nabbed smugglers with cows in the area. Dey was an active swayamsevak who was working tirelessly in the service of Bharat Mata. The administration is trying to cover up the possible communal angle in the case by allegedly limiting it to a mere land dispute. However, Dey might have touched the top brass of the smugglers in the area and hence faced the attack.
Following his death, the local Hindu activists including a number of swayamsevaks blocked the road and demanded action against the murderers. The police have assured timely action to the protestors.
The BJP state president Babulal Marandi sharing the news of the demise of RSS swayamsevak wrote, “Unbridled criminals shot dead Shankar Prasad, an activist of @RSSorg late Tuesday night at Tundi in Dhanbad district. Crime is at its peak in Jharkhand. Attacks on Hindu institutions and leaders are on the rise. Due to the politics of appeasement, the Soren government hesitates to take any concrete action. Chief Minister @HemantSorenJMM Sir, the entire state is suffering due to your silence and inaction. At least on the subject of law and order, follow your Rajdharma. My deepest condolences to the family members of the late Shankar ji. May God give him a place at his feet. Om Shanti”.
There is a list of targetted attacks on RSS swayamsevaks, here are some cases:
In June 2022, another RSS swayamsevak, Jimnesh lost his life in Kunnur. Notably, a group of CPM goons brutally lynched Jimnesh and other Swayasevaks, who were on their way back home after attending the Gurudakshina programme organised by the RSS. Among the Swayasevaks who were severely injured in the attack include A Adharsh, P V Jishnu, T Akshay, and K P Adarsh. They have been admitted to a private hospital in Thalassery. Jimnesh collapsed when he was taken to the hospital, and later breathed his last.
On September 19, 2022, police arrested a Popular Front of India (PFI) leader for the gruesome murder of a 45-year-old RSS leader named SK Sreenivasan in the Palakkad district of Kerala. The police arrested four accused associated with the case and all of them were identified as Muhammed Bilal, 22; Muhammed Riswan, 20; A Riyasudheen, 35; and Sahad, 22. Notably, all these accused were the PFI terrorists from Palakkad district in Kerala. Saddam Hussain, the Imam of Sankuvaramedu mosque in Palakkad, was arrested Friday (April 22) for harbouring PFI terrorists.
Sreenivasan, 45, was hacked to death on April 16 after a local PFI terrorist, A Subair, was murdered. The Kerala Police had formed an SIT to investigate the murder of Sreenivasan.
In January 2022, S Sanjith was hacked to death allegedly by the workers of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the political wing of the PFI, on November 15. He was brutally killed in broad daylight in front of his wife by SDPI/PFI terrorists while he was travelling with his wife and a 1-year-old kid on his bike. Murderer Islamists came in a car and hit him down and they hacked him many times until they confirmed he was dead.
As per the Palakkad Police, a total of ten people were arrested in the case, all of them were the workers of the Islamist radical outfit PFI.
(More details, in this case are awaited, Organiser will update this report)
