Dalit Man Lynched In Kerala Had Travelled For Better Wages, Accused Linked To RSS
Earlier this week, Ramnarayan Baghel, a Dalit migrant worker, was beaten to death by a group of men in Kerala’s Palakkad district, allegedly on the suspicion that he was a thief and a Bangladeshi national.
For years, Baghel, a 31-year-old construction labourer from Sakti district in Chhattisgarh, struggled to make ends meet.
A father of two young boys, Baghel earned just Rs 200 to Rs 300 a day as a daily wage worker whenever work was available, according to The Indian Express.
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The small piece of land he owned in Karhi village of Hasaud tehsil brought in almost no income.
With rising household expenses and no steady work, Baghel decided to travel hundreds of kilometres to Kerala, hoping for better wages, like several others from his village who had migrated there earlier, reported The Indian Express.
Baghel belonged to the Satnami Samaj, a Scheduled Caste (SC) community with a significant population in Chhattisgarh. He had studied only till Class 6 and spent his life doing manual labour to support his family.
“He lived hand to mouth,” his uncle Kishan told The Indian Express.
“Farming was not enough. Work here is not regular. Whenever he got work, he earned around Rs 300 a day. He thought Kerala would give him better wages,” he added.
Baghel left for Kerala just a few days before the incident, travelling alone.
He is survived by his ailing mother, his wife, and two sons aged nine and ten, for whom he was the sole breadwinner, reported The Indian Express.
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Baghel did not own a mobile phone. Instead, he carried important phone numbers written on pieces of paper.
It was one such paper that helped the police contact his family in Chhattisgarh after the attack.
“He had written phone numbers on paper. That is how police reached his brother,” Kishan told The Indian Express.
The incident took place at Attappallam in Walayar, Palakkad district. According to police, Baghel was questioned by a group of local men, and suspicion was raised about his identity.
What began as questioning soon escalated into a violent assault, police said. Baghel was allegedly beaten mercilessly by the group, leading to his death.
The case has been registered as mob lynching, and multiple accused have been arrested.
The case took a political turn after investigators confirmed that four of the accused have links to the BJP and the RSS.
The accused have been identified as Anu, Prasad, Murali, Anandan, and Bipin, all residents of the same locality. They were produced before a local court and remanded to judicial custody, as per The Observer Post.
Police told The Observer Post that Murali and Anu were previously named in a violent attack case about 15 years ago, involving workers associated with DYFI and CITU.
Murali is also an accused in another pending assault case involving a CITU headload worker, which is currently before the Kerala High Court.
On Saturday, Baghel’s wife travelled to Kerala to claim her husband’s body, reported The Indian Express.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Sakti Collector Amrit Vikas Topno said he received a call from Palakkad Collector Madhavikutty MS, seeking details about Baghel.
“They said Kerala will provide compensation to the family,” Topno told The Indian Express, adding that the Chhattisgarh government will also try to assist Baghel’s family.
