Raj govt must clear doubts on Anandpal shoot-out: BJP MLA

Rebel BJP MLA Ghanshyam Tiwari on Thursday said the Rajasthan government should take immediate steps to clear "serious doubts" that have arisen after the shoot-out of dreaded criminal Anandpal Singh.

He claimed that people in large numbers have met him after Anandpal's killing and there are "serious doubts in their minds about the authenticity of the encounter (shoot-out)".

"Why is the government running away from a CBI inquiry in the case, despite the statement of the state home minister, Gulabchand Kataria, that he is ready for any probe," said the MLA, who has opened a front against Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje after he was served a notice for anti-party activities in May.

Following the shoot-out killing on Saturday night in Churu district's Malasar village, Anandpal's family refused to take his body and demanded a CBI inquiry into the matter on Wednesday.

"The family members of Anandpal have demanded a postmortem from the medical board but the government is running away.

"His family has also demanded a CBI probe and the state home minister has said that he is ready for any inquiry then why is the government is not taking a decision," Tiwari asked.

He also claimed that Kataria was himself not aware of the encounter and this posed a question.

"The home minister stated that the chief minister had called and congratulated him after the encounter on Saturday night. It means though Raje was directly aligned with this operation, Kataria was fully unaware of the action," he said.

In a joint press conference on Wednesday, leaders of various organisations, including the Rajput Sabha Bhawan, the Pratap Foundation and the Karni Sena demanded a CBI inquiry into the shoot-out.