Shocked city shuts for a day,kin won’t claim bodies

Indranil Rajguru MLA from Rajkot (east) drove in an open-body SUV on the city’s main in the morning and requested people to support the bandh. “To ensure that what has happened with them does not happen to your family,please shut down for a day,” he told shopkeepers whose outlets were open.

The bandh call was given after Hasumati Dalvani,her two sons Bharat and Girish and daughters-in-law Asha and Rekha allegedly poured kerosene and set themselves on fire in the office of Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) Wednesday noon.

The family took the extreme step following alleged pressure from residents of Chhotunagr Cooperative Housing Society on Raiya Road and the civic body to demolish a house they had built on the common plot inside the residential complex.

Bharat,his wife Asha and Girish had succumbed to their burns in Civil Hospital in the city while Hasumati and Rekha,wife of Mahendra,the youngest of three brothers,continued to battle for their lives on Thursday.

“They have sustained 90 to 95 per cent burns and their condition continues to remain critical,” said a doctor treating the two.

Meanwhile,family members refused to claim bodies of Bharat,Girish and Asha.

“Until those who were harassing us are punished and justice is done,we shall not perform last rites,” Mahendra Dalvani,cousin brother of Bharat,said.

President of Nepali Sanskrutik Parishad (Guajarat region) Pratapsigh Budha said,“We want action against whoever is responsible,be they residents of society or RMC. We will allow the last rites only after action is taken and we are assured of justice.”

Chhotunagar society had allotted a hut in the common plot of the society to Mansinh Dalvani,husband of Hasumati,after hiring him as a security guard sometime around 1978. The family has been living there since. But after it did some new construction,the society,through RMC,sought their eviction from the plot terming it as encroachment.

RMC announces Rs 5 lakh ex gratia

In an official release on Thursday,the civic body announced today Rs 5 lakh in ex gratia to the kin of the five who allegedly attempted suicide on Wednesday.