Special Correspondent
NewsBits.in
Bhopal: Bhopal Lawyer Naveen Agrawal and his elder brother Sudhir Agrawal who were reported abducted on May 23 have found to be brutally murdered in property dispute.
The burnt and disfigured bodies of the two brothers have been recovered from Bandarkhoh area in Seoni Malwa of Hoshangabad district on Thursday, police said.
The gory crime comes to light barely ten days after ex-US embassy staffer Leena Sharma was found murdered also in Hoshangabad district over property dispute. The two cases have chilling similarities.
According to sources, Naveen and Sudhir Agrawal, a businessman based in Harda, had purchased a 28-acre land plot in Mohanpur, Harda district about six months ago. A part of the land (seven acres) was under dispute with Jagdish Rajput, brother of the seller, claiming joint ownership on the land.
The matter went to district court and the registry of Agrawals was declared void. The brothers challenged the matter in MP High Court and got a stay on the district court’s order last week. Consequently they went to Mohanpur to claim the ownership of land on May 23 along with five associates.
Sources said that the brothers had sent prior intimation to Rajput family about their visit. Shakti Singh, son of Jagdish Rajput allegedly arranged for bouncers from Indore beforehand to intimidate the brothers, sources said. Among them, Nikhil Tiwari, was arrested by Indore crime branch on May 25 and spilled the beans.
According to Tiwari, the seven persons including Agrawals were beaten up so badly that the brothers died within an hour of each other on May 23 itself. Their bodies were then taken to secluded spot in Bandarkhoh of Hoshangabad, their clothes burnt, faces disfigured and burnt before abandoning them.
On May 15, the body of Leena Sharma, who hailed from Bhopal but was staying in New Delhi, was similarly found decomposed in Sohagpur, Hoshangabad, almost a fortnight after her disappearance. She was killed over land dispute by one Pradeep Sharma, who she called uncle. Leena was similarly murdered in a planned way when she went to get the boundary of her land demarcated in Hoshangabad.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Govind Goyal, who was staging demonstration over the murders of the Agrawal brothers before the residence of home minister Babulal Gaur, was arrested by Bhopal police on Thursday.
