Ex-BJP MLA Bhadana killed by villagers over stone crusher dispute

Former BJP MLA Atar Singh Bhadana was killed after he was allegedly attacked by a group of villagers following a dispute over restarting a stone crusher in Rajasthan's Bharatpur district, police said on Monday.The incident took place on Sunday night in Bhonda village when Bhadana had gone to his stone crusher site. A dispute over the crusher had been going on between Bhadana and local villagers for some time.

Jaipur, Rajasthan: On the killing of former BJP MLA Atar Singh Bhadana by villagers over a mining dispute, Congress MLA Harimohan Sharma says, "The police administration was aware of the disputes at the site where mining operations were underway. Atar Singh Bhadana's family had also informed the police about these issues from time to time. The police knew about the disputes and what action needed to be taken. Despite being aware of the situation, the police had the authority to suspend mining operations if the law and order situation warranted it...''

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Circle Officer (Bhusawar) Neeraj Bhardwaj said Bhadana and his associate Gagan Sharma were allegedly attacked with sticks and stones during the confrontation.Both sustained serious injuries and were initially taken to a hospital in Weir. Bhadana was later referred to Jaipur's SMS Hospital, while Sharma was referred to Bharatpur. Bhadana died during treatment at the SMS Hospital, he said.Police said villagers had accused Bhadana of encroaching on grazing land and carrying out illegal mining activities. The crusher had remained closed for about a year, and efforts to restart it had led to further disagreements.Villagers alleged that they had been staging a peaceful protest for the past 10 to 15 days against the proposed reopening of the crusher. They claimed that Bhadana arrived at the site with around 40 to 50 people on Sunday evening and tried to remove them from the protest site, following which a confrontation broke out. Both sides have accused each other of assault.Additional police personnel have been deployed in the village to maintain law and order. The body has been kept in the mortuary for postmortem, Bhardwaj said.