A shutdown (bandh) call given by several Hindu outfits turned out to be effective in the Kawardha district of Chhattisgarh on Wednesday, February 14. The call for the shutdown was given, seeking capital punishment for the accused in the brutal murder of Sadharam Yadav, a staff in a local cowshed (Gothan), who was brutally killed over a small scuffle on the intervening night of January 20-21, 2024
Several organisations including the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) had given a call to observe a complete shutdown in the town over the killing of Sadharam on Wednesday, which received impressive support from the shopkeepers and businessmen along with the locals. Businesses and shops were closed, while the roads without commuters in the town indicated a massive resentment brewing among the people against the brutal killing of Sadharam.
Later in the day, the activists also gathered at the heart of the town to lay a wreath to Sadhram and demanded a compensation of Rs 1 crore along with a government job for one of the family members of the deceased.
The demonstrators also echoed their demand for capital punishment for all of the accused in the case. It has been reported that the activists have also announced a deadline to meet their demands and warned to launch an aggressive agitation in case their demands are not fulfilled. Notably, the family members of Sadharam had recently returned the financial assistance of Rs 5 lakhs provided by the State government.
It is to be noted that five individuals, including a minor, attacked and slit Sadhram Yadav’s throat over a minor altercation in Lalpur Kala village of Kawardha. The assailants fled the scene, and the incident was only discovered the next morning when residents found Yadav’s body. Yadav, a respected elder in the village, was a staff member in the nearby Gothan (cowshed). Locals asserted that he had no enmity with the accused or anyone in the village.
In the aftermath of the murder, the police swung into action and arrested all the accused in the case, including a minor who was detained alongside. The accused were identified as Sufiyaan, Idris, Ayaz, and Mahtab, all residents of Kawardha. It was reported that the assailants used a sharp-edged weapon in the crime. The police, after the arrest of the accused, revealed that the motive behind the incident was a confrontation between the assailants and Yadav, leading to the murder of the latter.
Organiser reported on January 25, about the action of the district administration against the illegal residence of Ayaz Khan, one of the prime accused in the case whose house was bulldozed by the administration. Reacting to the action taken against Ayaz, Superintendent of Police Abhishek Pallav had disclosed that the primary accused, Ayaz Khan, had a criminal history with nine registered cases, including charges of robbery, rioting, and flag incidents.
Notably, a day after the murder of Sadhram, Vijay Sharma, the Deputy Chief Minister of the State and a native of the same town, also paid a visit to the grieving family and provided an immediate financial assistance of Rs 5 lakhs while assuring that strict punitive action would be taken against the accused.
Speaking to the media, the deputy CM, while expressing his dismay, mentioned that when villagers visited the accused in jail, they found them laughing, highlighting the incomprehensible mindset behind the heinous act.
“It is very unfortunate that when the villagers went to jail to see the accused, they were laughing at them. The mindset behind this heinous act is unimaginable, I had come to the town to look after the progress in the events planned for January 22 but met with this unfortunate incident. It is indeed concerning, and we will surely get to the root of this,” remarked Sharma.
