Rajput Karni Sena leader shot dead at home; protests erupt

Armed gunmen on Tuesday shot dead Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi, the chief of the Hindu right-wing group Shri Rashtriya Rajput Karni Sena (SRRKS), in his Jaipur residence, said police, a murder that triggered fierce protests by Rajputs across Rajasthan.

SSRKS is a splinter group of Sri Rajput Karni Sena, an outfit that shot to national infamy after its protests against the Sanjay Leela Bhansali film Padmaavat in 2018 over the alleged distortion of historical facts about the Rajput community.

Hours after the incident, a member of notorious jailed criminal Lawrence Bishnoi's gang claimed responsibility for the murder in a social media post. Investigators were still to identify the two assailants, who also shot dead Naveen Shekhawat, a man who accompanied them to Gogamedi's house.

One of Gogamedi's security guards was injured during the exchange of fire, said police, adding that a local resident, identified as Hemraj, was also injured after the suspects shot him and robbed him of his two-wheeler to flee the spot. "The assailants reached Gogamedi's house in Shyam Nagar area in a white car around 1pm. They walked into his drawing room after getting permission from the security guard at the main gate," said Jaipur police chief Biju George Joseph. "The men spoke to Gogamedi for about 15 minutes before firing at him." The murder was captured on CCTV cameras installed in Gogamedi's house, said Joseph.