RTI Activist Shot Dead by Pipli Village Sarpanch, Second Attack by Ramavtar Singh for Filing RTI Against Him

Sonepat, June 26: The Sarpanch of Pipli village in Sonepat district allegedly shot dead a 24-year-old man, for suspecting that he had sought details against him through an RTI application. According to a Hindustan Times report, the deceased has been identified as Ashish Dahiya, and he was working out with his cousin at a gym near his village. This is reportedly the second attack by sarpanch Ram Nivas in the last one month on a person he suspected to have filed the RTI application.

In the previous instance, he had shot a 35-year-old man identified as Ramavtar Singh, but he survived the attack and is currently going through treatment at PGIMS in Rohtak. Dahiya along with his cousin has been staying in New Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar to prepare for competitive exams after pursuing engineering. Two weeks back, he got a death threat on the phone, following which they complained with the Delhi Police. On Sunday, when the incident took place, Ram Nivas as well as his aides reached there and had an argument with them over the RTI application.

The reason for the dispute has been over a property belonging to previously injured Ramavtar Singh. According to the report, Akash has been quoted as saying, “Ramavtar had lodged a case against sarpanch after the latter illegally occupied some property owned by him. Another local youth Pradeep had also filed an RTI seeking the registration details of the property to help Ramavtar. We also lent our support to them, which did not go down well with the sarpanch."

Ram Nivas had threatened to kill all the people who went against him. The family members of the deceased have expressed their worry that the sarpanch if remained outside police custody, can target Akash as well.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 26, 2018 02:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).