By IANS,
Bhopal : The Congress Tuesday called for a shutdown in Bhind and Datia districts of Madhya Pradesh to protest the murder of its legislator Makhan Singh Jatav the previous night, even as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan asked the party not to politicise the killing.
Jatav was shot at from point blank range by four unidentified people near Chharetav village in Bhind district, around 550 km from here, Monday night.
“Jatav received bullet injuries in his head and was rushed to a hospital in Gwalior, where doctors pronounced him dead,” Inspector General of Police Arvind Kumar told IANS.
The slain legislator from Gohad assembly constituency was returning after canvassing for Bhagirath Prasad, the Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Bhind.
Govind Singh, Congress legislator from Bhind, has accused workers of the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of having been involved in the murder. Many party workers have said that Jatav had a verbal spat with BJP legislator Lal Singh Arya April 9.
Responding to the allegation, the chief minister told reporters: “The Congress should not politicise the murder and wait for the police report.”
However, the Congress called for a shutdown in Bhind and Datia.
“The shutdown has so far been peaceful. No incident of violence has been reported from anywhere in the two districts,” a police official said.
A large number of Congressmen Tuesday gathered outside the mortuary in Gwalior where the body of Jatav has been sent for postmortem. Several policemen have been posted there to avoid any untoward incident.
Security personnel have been deployed outside the Gwalior hospital and in Gohad, from where Jatav was elected to the state assembly in the November 2008 polls.