Agra, 2017.04.19 (Anuja Jaiswal, TNN): Amid reports about the DNA sample of the main accused in the June 2 Jawahar Bagh violence, Ram Vriksha Yadav, not matching with his son’s, followers of the cult’s leader have now said that their chief is still alive and that the announcement of his death by the Samajwadi Party administration earlier was just a ploy to “stop the movement”.
Vivek Yadav, son of Ram Vriksha, the man who led hundreds of Swadheen Bharat Subhash Sena members in clashes with police that resulted in the death of 29 people, including two cops, said, “My father is very much alive, but I do not know his whereabouts.”
Talking to reporters at the premises of a court in Mathura on Tuesday, Vivek claimed that his father was arrested on June 2 and that the man had no injuries at that time. Vivek’s lawyer LK Gautam added that Ram Vriksha “was alive and in police custody till 8pm on June 2”.
Vivek, arrested on January 18 and remanded to judicial custody, was the brain behind propagation of the cult’s vision. He was active on social media and regularly updated activities concerning the Subhash Sena on Facebook.
DNA tests on 15 charred bodies recovered from Jawahar Bagh have failed to identify Ram Vriksha. Samples of Vivek’s DNA didn’t match with a body that cops claimed was Ram Vriksha’s.
Dr SB Upadhyaya, director of UP government’s Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Lucknow, said, “We had received 22 DNA samples and tests have so far been conducted on 15.” A senior police officer told TOI that remains of the charred body, “identified” by a close relative of Ram Vriksha’s, have not found a match. He said the samples are now being matched with the other remaining bodies.
On June 16 last year, a Mathura court had refused to accept the death certificate of Ram Vriksha and had ordered DNA tests to be conducted. Incidentally, it was Gautam who had first raised doubts about the police’s claim on Ram Vriksha’s death. Gautam, after seeing pictures of Ram Vriksha’s body that were circulated on social media, had then said that the cult’s chief “did not have so much hair on his head and he was slim”.
The CBI team which is investigating the Jawahar Bagh violence following a high court directive refused to comment on the issue. The agency’s spokesperson, RK Gaur, said they haven’t received any report from FSL so far.
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