Athawale seeks CID probe into murder of Navi Mumbai teenager

Terming the murder of a teenage boy allegedly at the hands of the relatives of an upper-caste girl in Navi Mumbai earlier this week as an extremely serious crime, Union Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale today demanded a CID inquiry.
"Nerul police have not taken the case seriously and strict action needs to be taken against them. This is an extremely serious incident that needs to be tried in a fast-track court. I will request the Chief Minister to do the needful and also seek a CID probe into the matter," he said.
The Rajya Sabha MP was talking to reporters here after meeting the family of the teenage boy who was allegedly beaten to death for having an affair with an upper-caste girl.

About the cancellation of his visit to Kopardi in Ahmednagar district to meet the family of a minor girl who was brutally raped and murdered last week, Athawale said he learnt that her parents did not want to meet him.
"The local Maratha leaders have decided not to let a Dalit leader visit the village. Irrespective of the girl's caste (Maratha), rape and murder is a shameful act and a serious offence," he said.
"Even though the accused are Dalits, I could have understood family's decision not to meet us if we had backed the accused. But the RPI(A) (his party) has condemned the incident and demanded stringent action against the accused," the Union Minister added.

The family refused to meet him due to pressure from local Maratha leaders, Athawale alleged.

"I go and meet families of Dalit victims (of atrocities). Why should I not meet victims or their families if they are Marathas? I was going there to condemn the incident," he said.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis called him last evening and asked him to not go ahead with his visit and said that they would visit the victim's family together after a week, he said. "But I had to be in Delhi then for the ongoing Parliament session," Athawale added.
As to the Ambedkar Bhavan demolition controversy, he said a grand, modern building (in place of the old structure) was needed.

"CM should sit with trustees (of the institute founded by Ambedkar which owned the structure) and Ambedkar's family to decide who should carry out redevelopment," said Athawale.
If Prakash Ambedkar (Babasaheb Ambedkar's grandson who objected to demolition) wanted to reconstruct the building, why didn't he do it earlier, Athawale asked.