By IANS,
Patna : Railways Minister Lalu Prasad Thursday visited the family of Rahul Raj, who was shot by Mumbai Police Monday after he fired indiscriminately in a city bus and threatened to kill Raj Thackeray. Lalu called the shooting a “brutal murder” and demanded a judicial probe into it.
“I am for a judicial probe by a sitting judge of the high court into Rahul Raj’s brutal murder and stern action against Maharashtra police officials guilty for it,” Lalu said after visiting Raj’s family in Kadamkuan locality here.
Raj, 25, was shot dead by the police after he attacked the conductor of a bus and fired at a passenger with his revolver.
Before being shot dead, Raj had said that he wanted to kill Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Thackeray for inciting his party workers to attack youths from Bihar who were in Mumbai for a railway recruitment examination.
Lalu said that Raj was “neither a hardcore criminal nor a terrorist” that Mumbai Police should claim to have shot him in a gun battle.
“We will provide all possible help to Raj’s family and continue to put pressure (on the government) to bring justice to them,” said Lalu. He was accompanied by his party leaders including central minister Akhilesh Singh and Patna MP Ramkirpal Yadav.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal chief said that he had taken up the issue of attacks on north Indians with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
“We would not hesitate to take up the issue again if necessary,” Lalu said.
He alleged that Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and his nephew Raj were trying to break up the country.
Earlier, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Lok Jan Shakti Party chief and central minister Ram Vilas Paswan also visited Raj’s family and demanded a judicial inquiry into his killing.