With the Rajasthan government giving an assurance to the family of Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena chief Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi that his killers will be arrested within 72 hours, the police have launched a hunt to nab the assailants.
A large number of associates and sympathisers of gangster Rohit Godara, said to be linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, were interrogated on Friday after he took responsibility for the murder in a social media post.
“We have detained some of them, though there has been no breakthrough in the case,” said Om Prakash, Inspector General of Police, Bikaner.
The police are conducting raids in the State and neighbouring Haryana at the suspected hideouts of the two assailants, Rohit Singh Rathore and Nitin Fauji, who shot dead Gogamedi at his home in Jaipur on December 5. The police have announced a reward of ₹5 lakh each for any tip-off leading to their arrest.
While Rathore belongs to Jusaria village in Kuchaman district, Fauji hails from Haryana’s Mahendragarh. The police suspect that they might have fled to the National Capital Region through Deedwana and Sujangarh. Security has been given to the Rajput leader’s family and three persons injured in the attack.
The police complaint lodged by Gogamedi’s wife, Sheela, said he had written to senior police officers thrice earlier this year seeking security in view of threats to his life.
No security was provided despite the inputs sent by the Punjab police about the threats posed by members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, she said.
Thousands of people attended his cremation at his native village, Gogamedi, in Bhadra area of Hanumangarh district on Thursday.
A known history-sheeter
Gogamedi, 50, gained national attention after he spearheaded protests by the right-wing group during the shooting of director Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film Padmaavat in 2017-18.
The Rajput leader was himself a known history-sheeter and had 30 cases on charges of murder, abduction, extortion, rioting and criminal intimidation filed against him. Most of them were registered in Hanumangarh, Jaipur and Nagaur, as well as in Haryana. While he was acquitted in several cases under the Arms Act, at least two matters are being investigated by the CID-Crime Branch of the Rajasthan police and one by the CBI.
During the course of the investigation into Gogamedi’s murder, the police are probing if he was threatened by his rivals in the extortion business, while suspecting that he might have crossed their path. The Rajput leader might have been facing competition from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang’s members in Rajasthan, according to the police.
Splinter factions
The Karni Sena and the multiple groups with similar names, which have grown as its splinter factions, are in the limelight following the murder. The oldest organisation, Rajput Karni Sena, was established by politician Lokendra Singh Kalvi and Ajit Singh Mamdoli, a builder, in 2006. The two leaders parted ways after the 2008 Assembly election. Kalvi, the son of former Union Minister Kalyan Singh Kalvi, died in March this year.
Kalvi had also launched an agitation seeking reservation for the poor among the forward castes, including Rajputs, and contested the Lok Sabha election in 1993 and 1999. He expelled Gogamedi as the State president of his faction of the Rajput Karni Sena in 2015 following some differences, after which the latter established the Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena.
The Mamdoli-led faction merged with Gogamedi’s outfit in October 2021. There are at present three Karni Senas that trace their origin from the organisation founded in 2006. One is led by Mr. Kalvi’s son, Bhawani Singh Kalvi, the second is headed by Mahipal Singh Makrana, while the president of the third group was Gogamedi and its national convener is Mr. Mamdoli.
The Karni Senas, which have been working to promote unity among Rajputs and raising their issues without a visible rivalry, have been named after Karni Mata, a deity whose principal seat is situated at a famous temple in Deshnok near Bikaner.
Political relevance
Rajputs in the State, who have traditionally supported the BJP, comprise a powerful community with an influence in about 25 of the 200 Assembly constituencies. While Karni Senas have sought to maintain the political relevance of Rajputs, Gogamedi had organised a massive protest against the encounter of Rajput gangster Anandpal Singh in Churu district in 2017.
Gogamedi remained an important leader of the Rajputs because of the relevance of caste politics in the State. He unsuccessfully fought the State Assembly election on a Bahujan Samaj Party’s ticket from Bhadra seat in 2013. He also sought a Congress ticket from Bhadra for the recent Assembly poll, but was denied it, said Satyendra Raghav, a senior Rajput leader in the Congress.
