Funeral procession of Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi.
Credit: PTI Photo
Jaipur: The last rites of the slain Karni Sena leader Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi were conducted today in Hanumangarh district.
He was cremated in Gogamedi village in Bhadra of Hanumangarh district. Thousands of teary-eyed people gathered in the village to bid farewell to Gogamedi. Earlier, his mortal remains were taken to Rajput Sabha Bhavan in Jaipur, where many paid tributes to him. His last journey went through Chomu, Sikar, Laxmangarh, Fatehpur, Churu, Taranagar and ultimately reached Bhadra.
Gogamedi, 50, the president of Rashtriya Karni Sena, was murdered in broad daylight on Tuesday as three gunmen entered his house and fired indiscriminately, killing him on the spot.
One of the gunmen, Navneet Singh Shekhawat was shot dead in retaliatory firing. The other two identified as Rohit Rathore Makrana of Jaipur and Nitin Fauji of Haryana managed to escape. Although Rajasthan Police has set up a Special Investigation Team to probe the murder, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is to take over the probe soon. The police are conducting raids on a number of hideouts in the state and Haryana. The Rohit Godara gang has taken responsibility for the killing.
The Karni Sena had called for a state-wide bandh in protest against the killing. And the state witnessed disruptions, shutdowns due to the bandh called by Rajputs, who gathered at many places across the state and demanded immediate arrest of the assailants.
Gogamedi is said to have asked for security as he was being threatened by members of Lawrence Bishnoi gang. He, however, was not provided the security cover, despite inputs from Punjab police. The FIR registered by Gogamedi's wife Sheela Shekhawat alleges that former Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and the Rajasthan DGP failed to provide security despite threats.
However, Gogamedi was a known history-sheeter and had at least 30 cases of crimes like rape, murder and abduction lodged against him.