Nafe Singh Rathee Murder Update: Former Haryana BJP MLA Naresh Kaushik was on Sunday reportedly booked in the murder incident of INLD Haryana chief Nafe Singh Rathee by the state police. The police have booked Naresh Kaushik (57), who was appointed as the coordinator for the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat recently, allegedly for conspiracy in the murder of  Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) Haryana president Nafe Singh Rathee. It is being said that the two leaders were political rivals in Haryana after they both contested elections against each other from the same legislative constituency.

Nafe Singh Rathee was on Sunday shot dead by a few miscreants in Haryana’s Bahadurgarh in broad daylight, sending a shock wave across the state. The sensational killing of Bahadurgarh’s prominent Jat leader and two-term MLA between 1996 to 2005 gave a big jolt to the INLD.

Rathee's family reportedly blamed local BJP leaders for murder conspiracy

After the incident, Rathee’s family blamed local BJP leaders for his murder and alleged that, before his killing, Kaushik was instrumental in the dozens of cases filed against his relatives.

Rathee, whose political career spanned four decades had also joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014 after INLD denied him ticket in the Haryana assembly elections from Bahadurgarh. However, he was denied a ticket from Bahadurgarh by the BJP as well and the party chose to field Naresh Kaushik instead.

After the denial, Rathee contested as an Independent candidate and finished fourth, while Kaushik emerged as the winner defeating his nearest rival Congress candidate Rajender Kumar Joon.

Later, in 2018, Rathee returned to the INLD, following which he was given a ticket by the party to contest in the 2019 state assembly polls against BJP leader Naresh Kaushik. The 2019 elections, however, saw the win of the Congress’s Rajender Joon, while Nafe Singh Rathee finished third.

Meanwhile, the Opposition attacked the government over the killing of the prominent politician calling it a political murder and raised questions asking why the government had not provided Rathee with a security cover.