Nearly a week after Sachin Walia, brother of Bheem Army district president Kamal Walia was shot dead in Saharanpur on May 9, the local police claimed to have solved the murder case. They have arrested one Praveen who they said fired at Sachin from a countrymade weapon “by mistake”.

At a press conference in Saharanpur on Tuesday, DIG Sharad Pradhan said Sachin’s was an accidental death and not a murder. On May 9, on the day of Maharana Pratap Jayanti, Sachin succumbed to a bullet injury he sustained in accidental firing by Praveen, said the DIG, adding that the accused had been arrested and sent to jail.

The police said they got to know during the investigation that Sachin was present with seven others in the house of one Romilal in Ramnagar area on May 9. These men were checking a loaded country-made pistol when Praveen suddenly fired a shot and it injured Sachin. He was taken to hospital where doctors declared him dead on arrival, said DIG Pradhan.

Kamal Walia, the Bheem Army’s Saharanpur district president, was however not satisfied with the “accidental death” theory. Raising questions on the police investigation, he demanded the arrest of the person in whose house the incident took place.

He said it was a matter of investigation that what were these eight men doing in a room with a fully loaded weapon. “Also, why was Sachin on one side and the rest seven on the other side with a loaded weapon? I am not concerned about any caste or community, but want the real culprit arrested,” said Kamal.

After Sachin Walia’s mysterious death in Saharanpur on May 9, the Bheem Army had created a ruckus at the district hospital. Tension had gripped the entire district. Exactly a year ago, tension had spread in Saharanpur due to a clash between Dalits and Rajputs on the issue of carrying out a procession to mark Maharana Pratap Jayanti.

This had led to a large-scale violence in which Dalit houses were torched. Bheem Army chief Chandrashekhar alias Ravana had been arrested and booked under the National Security Act for holding a mahapanchayat. He is still in the jail and Dalits have been demanding his immediate release.

Sachin was also associated with Bheem Army and was an active worker. Some Bheem Army members had tried to link his death on Maharana Pratap Jayanti to the ongoing tension.

Bheem Army national spokesperson Sanjeev Nautiyal said they were keeping a watch on the case worked out by the police. He said some more facts related to the case needed to come to the fore and they had spoken to the police in this regard.