Shivpuri farmer found dead in field; wife accuses six people of beating him to death

A 35-year-old farmer, Imrat Lal Lodhi, died in suspicious circumstances in Rajapur Mahua village under Mayapur police station limits in Shivpuri district, after going to water his field. His wife, Savita Lodhi, alleges that six people beat him to death and buried the body in the wet soil of the field. The family says the matter is linked to an old enmity.

According to Savita, Imrat Lal had gone with her on Monday evening to the field, about three kilometres from the village. At around 3 am, six people arrived. Savita says three of them caught hold of her while the other three began beating her husband. She alleges that one man then covered her eyes and three people dragged Imrat away. After a while, those holding her also fled.

Savita then searched for her husband in the field. At around 5 am, Imrat was found lying amid water and wet soil, his head and face sunk in the mud. Family members and police reached the spot on receiving the news.

The body was taken to Khaniyadhana. There, relatives named Raghuraj, Natiraja, Avikesh, Brajesh, Chhotu and Rajpal, and demanded that a murder case be registered. As there was no agreement on the post-mortem, the body was brought to Shivpuri Medical College on Tuesday evening. At the family's demand, a panel of doctors conducted the post-mortem there on Wednesday.

The family says that about 10 days ago, a dispute arose between the deceased's brother, Haribhan Lodhi, and Raghuraj Dhakad over a vehicle used to pull out borewell pipes. The family alleges they had been receiving threats since then. Relatives also said that Imrat's uncle was killed in 2009, run over by a tractor.

Mayapur police station in-charge Manoj Rajput said police were informed about three hours after the incident. According to him, the body was not found at the spot in the condition described by the family. Police have for now registered a case of unnatural death (marg) and had the post-mortem conducted. He said further action will be taken on the basis of the post-mortem report and facts that emerge in the investigation.