Overview
- Police say former MLA Atar Singh Bhadana was attacked with sticks and stones at his crusher site and was declared dead at Jaipur’s SMS Hospital after being referred from Weir on Sunday night.
- Villagers of Bhonda and nearby Raipur had been protesting the mining lease for about two years and say the crusher sits on or blocks access to gram panchayat grazing land.
- The mining lease is registered in Bhadana’s wife Kamlesh’s name and was restarted after a court order, a move that triggered renewed protests in the days before the clash.
- Residents and Bhadana’s supporters gave competing accounts of the confrontation, with villagers saying he arrived with dozens of people and police reporting violence from both sides.
- Bharatpur police have increased security in the area, launched raids to arrest those involved, and kept Bhadana’s body for post-mortem while the investigation continues and no public arrests have been reported.