New Delhi: Bihari youth Rahul Raj's encounter killing and a north Indian's murder in Mumbai are likely to engage attention of the Supreme Court with a petitioner seeking a judicial inquiry into the incidents, allegedly sparked by a hate campaign launched by MNS workers.

Filing a PIL, an advocate has sought the Court s direction for providing security to North Indians in the state alleging that the Centre and the state government had failed to take proper action against those who have been instrumental in propagating the hate campaign against non-Marathi.

"It is prayed that the Court order judicial inquiry in Rahul Raj and Dharam Dev Rai killing case," advocate Sanjiv Kumar Singh said in his petition alleging "there is total failure of the constitutional machinery in Maharashtra".

Rahul Raj, 23-year-old resident of Patna was killed in a shootout in a BEST bus on October 27 and a day later Dharam Dev Rai (25), a resident of Faizabad in UP, was beaten to death in a local train in Mumbai.

Blaming Raj Thackeray and his supporters for the backlash against the North Indian population in the state, Singh pleaded that the bail of MNS (Maharashtra Navnirvan Sena) chief be cancelled and he should be prosecuted under the National Security Act.

"Raj Thackeray behaves like a regional terrorist, provokes enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony in the state," Singh said.

He accused the Centre and the State government of indulging in vote-bank politics by going soft against alleged culprits. The MNS is indulging in criminal activities to win votes of Marathis, he alleged.
Source : PTI