Ex-IPS officer pressured Dalit man to file harassment FIR against Congress MLA, officials: Police
Jaipur, Aug 11: Two weeks after an FIR was lodged against Congress MLA Gopal Meena and five police officers for harassing a Dalit man here, officials Friday dismissed the allegations as "false" and "baseless".
Preliminary investigation suggested that the the FIR was registered at the behest of a ex-IPS officer Navdeep Singh to mount pressure on police to close a case registered against him in a land-related dispute, Rajasthan Police said in a statement issued here.
Meena allegedly forced the Dalit man to lick his shoe and an officer urinated on him, while other police officers beat him up, according to the complaint registered on July 27.
The politician, too, refuted the charges and said that fake allegations have been made against him due to a property-related dispute.
"It is a tactic to mount pressure on me. Some people want me to help them with illegal land encroachment. I do not know the man who registered this case," the Jamwa Ramgarh MLA said.
The dispute revolves around a piece of land where tribals and Dalits reside, the police statement said.
However, Singh, who retired in 2018 as DG Home Guard, said he was not behind the registration of the FIR in the matter.
The FIR was lodged on July 27 on a court's direction under Sections 363 (kidnapping), 448 (house trespassing), 323 (causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 342 (wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the police said.
The complainant alleged that Circle Officer Shivkumar Bhardwaj urinated on him post the incident, which occurred on June 30 when the police picked him up while he was working in a farm and took him to a place where the MLA forced him to lick his shoe.
Jamwa Ramgarh SHO Sitaram Saini said that after the case was registered, the matter was sent to CID (CB) for investigation. He added that apart from the Circle Officer, the SHOs of four police stations have been named in the FIR.
The police statement called the allegations "false" and "baseless", adding, "It is notable that Navdeep Singh is having a dispute with the local tribal and Dalit people living on the land in Todaldi Aandhi village of Jamvaramgarh area," the statement said.
To remove the tribals and Dalits from the particular land, Singh allegedly used his influence and called the patwari of another area and wanted to get demarcation, the statement said.
The particular Patwari was suspended by the district collector as he tried delegating duties outside his jurisdiction, it added.
"A case was registered by the local residents against him (Singh) under various sections of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The case was being investigated by Circle Officer Shiv Kumar Bhardwaj," the statement said, adding that the ex-IPS officer started putting undue pressure on police to close the case immediately.
The Rajasthan police also said that Singh has several criminal cases registered against him.
When contacted, Singh said the land was purchased in the name of his wife's company but the local officers were creating hurdles in the demarcation of the land, which was to be done by a Patwari.
"The local officers are under the influence of the MLA. The demarcation was scheduled on June 30 but it was not done because the officers wanted instructions from the MLA," he said.
"I am not behind the FIR. It is for the complainant to say what allegations he has made," he added.
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NEET student hangs self in Rajasthan's Sikar
Jaipur (PTI): A student preparing for the NEET examination allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in a rented room in Rajasthan's Sikar on Friday, police said.
According to the police, the student allegedly hanged himself from a ceiling fan using his sister's scarf while one sister was attending coaching classes and the other was in the bathroom.
He had appeared in the NEET UG exam 2026, which was cancelled due to paper leak, they said.
Udyog Nagar SHO Rajesh Kumar said that the deceased, identified as Pradeep Meghwal, was a resident of Kanika ki Dhani village in Jhunjhunu's Gudha Gaudji area.
He had been living in a rented room in Sikar's Jaldhari Nagar area with his two sisters while preparing for NEET over the last three years.
His elder sister later found him hanging and informed the landlord and police after bringing him down, officials said.
The SHO said the body was kept at SK Hospital mortuary, and a postmortem had not been conducted.
The student's father, Rajesh Kumar Meghwal, told police that Pradeep's NEET examination had gone well and the family was expecting him to score around 650 marks.
Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot expressed grief over the incident and linked it to anxiety among students after reports of irregularities and paper leaks in NEET 2026.
Pilot said repeated paper leak incidents and cancellation of examinations were affecting students' mental health and demanded a time-bound investigation and strict action against those responsible.
