BJP worker gave Rs 5 lakh to contract killers to kill party leader Manoj Thakre

Madhya Pradesh Police has cracked the murder case of Bharatiya Janata Party’s Badwani mandal chief Manoj Thakre by arresting seven people, including four contract killers. According to the police, the party’s state working committee special invitee Tarachand Rathore and his son gave contract of Rs 5 lakh to kill Thakre.

Commenting on the development, Bala Bachchan - Madhya Pradesh Home Minister – said some party workers were behind Thakre’s murder and the state police has arrested them. “I've received information that people from BJP themselves were involved in the murder. Police have arrested them, the person who gave 'supari' is a BJP worker,” Bachchan said.

Madhya Pradesh Home Minister, Bala Bachchan on the murder of BJP leader Manoj Thackeray in Barwani: I've received information that people from BJP themselves were involved in the murder. Police have arrested them, the person who gave 'supari' is a BJP worker. pic.twitter.com/EPwn7nOtKO

— ANI (@ANI) January 31, 2019

"Tarachand Rathore and his son were upset over the increasing popularity of Thakre who was BJP's Balwadi mandal chief. People went to Thakre for help which peeved Rathore," District Superintendent of Police Yangchen Dolkar Bhutia was quoted as saying by NDTV.

The police have also recovered phone recordings of Rathore threatening Thakre.

48-year-old Thakre was found dead in Barwani district - the very district to which home minister Bala Bachchan belongs - of Madhya Pradesh on January 20. He was murdered three days after another BJP leader was shot dead in Mandsaur, prompting the party to claim that its leaders were being targeted.

Former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had tweeted that it was "a matter of grave concern that BJP leaders are being killed".

"Congress is taking it lightly and seeking to make a cruel joke of the incidents," Chouhan had tweeted.