Dalit Lawyer in Guj Was Stabbed Over ‘Anti-Brahmin Posts’: Police

Dalit lawyer Devji Maheshwari was stabbed to death in Gujarat’s Kutch on 25 September.

(Photo: Facebook/Devji Maheshwari)

An argument over a social media post led to the murder of Dalit lawyer Devji Maheshwari in Gujarat in September, the investigating team has found as per The Indian Express.

Maheshwari was stabbed to death on 25 September in Rapar town of Kutch, just days after he had a heated argument with prime accused Bharat Raval, 22, over the former's social media post.

Mumbai Police, who had arrested Raval a day after the murder, had also said that he committed the murder over a post which he found was "prejudicial to Brahmins", his own community.

The Special Investigation Team, in a press release on Sunday, 18 October, said, "The evidence gathered in course of investigation suggests that Maheshwari used to upload objectionable posts about Brahmin community on his Facebook account. Raval had dialled him (Maheshwari) over this and the duo had a heated argument over phone. Investigation establishes that Raval had murdered Maheshwari over disputes that arose out of the social media posts against Brahmin community."

Raval, who is a native of Rapar town, worked at a printer repairing shop run by Mahesh Hanat alias Mahesh Bhoja Patel in Mumbai's Malad area. After stabbing Maheshwari, Raval escaped to Mumbai with the help of his friends Prakash Bera and Rajesh alias Viram Devda. But when he reached the Malad shop the next day, the Mumbai crime branch had nabbed him.

Hanat, Bera and Devda are currently in judicial custody, as per The Indian Express report.

The police has so far not found any evidence against the other eight persons named by Maheshwari's wife Minaxiben in the FIR, said The Indian Express report.

The report also quoted sources as saying, “During interrogation, Raval has confessed that he had a tussle with Maheshwari over the latter’s anti-Brahmin posts and therefore he murdered him. The audio recording retrieved from his mobile phone corroborate that claim.”