Rajasthan Police raid Naresh Meena's ancestral home in Nahargarh forest office attack case

Jaipur: The Rajasthan Police intensified their search for Naresh Meena, chief of the Bhagat Singh Sena and a farmers’ leader, in connection with the alleged attack on the Forest Department's range office in Nahargarh town of Baran district, conducting a raid at his ancestral residence in Nayagaon on Tuesday.

However, Meena was not present at the house, and the police team returned empty-handed. Meena has announced through a social media post that he will surrender at the Nahargarh police station on November 6 at 5 p.m.

Meanwhile, police have arrested four other accused in the case and are conducting raids to trace the remaining suspects.

The case relates to an incident in which a group of people allegedly barged into the Forest Department's range office, vandalised government property, assaulted forest personnel and took away a generator seized by the department.

Acting on the directions of Baran SP Abhishek Andasu, a special police team was constituted to apprehend Meena. The team included Atru Circle Officer Ramanand Yadav, Mothpur SHO Kamal Singh, Baran Sadar SHO Nawalkishore Meena and personnel from the District Special Team (DST). The team reached Meena's ancestral residence in Nayagaon early Tuesday morning. However, he was not found there.

Police officials said efforts were underway to identify and apprehend others involved in vandalising government property, obstructing government officials from performing their duties, and allegedly threatening forest personnel.

Following the police raid, Meena posted a message on social media claiming that the police had reached his residence at 5 a.m. to arrest him. He announced that he would surrender at the Nahargarh police station on November 6 at 5 p.m. In the same post, he appealed to voters in Rajasthan to move beyond the Congress and BJP and support what he described as a Third Front. He urged people to vote for the BSP (elephant symbol) or the RLP (bottle symbol), support strong Independent candidates and vote for Left candidates in Sikar.

His announcement comes amid heightened political activity in the state ahead of the ongoing Panchayati Raj elections. The incident occurred on November 1 when Pradeep Singh Rathore, in charge of the Nahargarh forest check-post, along with a forest guard and other personnel, seized a generator allegedly being used for an illegal tubewell on forest land in Jhiri Tapra.

The generator was subsequently brought to the Forest Department's range office. According to the allegations, Naresh Meena arrived at the office with hundreds of supporters, who allegedly threatened to set the premises on fire, assaulted forest personnel and tore badges and nameplates from their uniforms. They also allegedly damaged official documents, including the seizure panchnama, before taking away the confiscated generator in a mini transport vehicle. The incident reportedly caused significant damage to government property and led to a police investigation.

Nahargarh SHO Vivek Harsana said police had arrested four persons on Monday in connection with the incident. They were subsequently produced before a court and sent to jail. The arrested accused have been identified as Jitendra Nagar (36), a resident of Nahargarh; Devendra Kushwaha (22), a resident of Balapura; Pappu Bhil (25), a resident of Lakdai; and Murari Gurjar (20), a resident of Murari. Police said efforts were continuing to apprehend the remaining accused, including the main suspect, Naresh Meena.

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