New Delhi: An Indian Right to
Information (RTI) activist Bhupendra
Veera, who launched multiple campaigns against illegal land dealings and
construction in Mumbai, has been shot dead at his residence.
A former corporator from
Congress party, Razzaq Khan, has been arrested along with his son for suspected
involvement in the murder.
The slain activist Veera is
survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.
According to police, some
people had come to meet 61-year-old Veera Saturday night while his wife was in
another room. Later his wife found him in a pool of blood sitting on the chair.
She raised an alarm and took
Veera to local VN Desai Hospital where he was declared dead.
“My husband was watching
television when the killer entered around 9 pm and shot him in the head. I was
making dinner.
The TV was on so I heard
nothing. We absolutely know who committed the murder. We have told police about
it. Let’s see what they do about it,” Veera’s wife Khushboo told Gulf News.
Based on Khushboo’s complaint,
the police filed a case against Khan, with whom the activist had several
confrontations in the recent past.
“The man who barged into
Veera’s house in Santacruz East, held a gun to Veera’s forehead and fired. The
shooter fired at close range and at an angle between the open main door and the
bedroom, where Veera was sitting.
The bullet shot exited the
other side of the head and has been recovered. The shooter is suspected to have
used a silencer,” Mumbai Deputy Commissioner of Police Virendra Mishra told
Gulf News.
Veera’s family said he received
repeated threats and had registered several complaints with the local Vakola
police station.
“My father-in-law was a saintly
man. He was a crusader against corruption and had filed several complaints on
illegal constructions against many persons, particularly Razzaq Khan. This
actually cost him his life,” Veera’s daughter-in-law Sheela told gulfnews.
Activist and former Aam Aadmi
Party (AAP) leader Anjali Damania, who had worked with Veera, told Gulf News he
was murdered because of his fight against illegal constructions.
“Several other Right to
Information activists have been threatened recently and they have informed the
police of the same. It must be noted that Mr Veera had persuaded civic
officials to take action against four illegal construction sites recently,”
Damania said.
Veera turned into an RTI activist
in 2010. Prior to that he ran a shop and was a partner in a steel company owned
by his family.
Source: gulfnews.com
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