Uttarakhand BJP leader was strangled, says official

An architect and Bharatiya Janata Party leader from Uttarkhand, whose body was found in Baheri area, was strangulated, a senior officer said here on Sunday. “According to the post mortem report, BJP leader Rakesh Kumar Rastogi was strangulated. His body also had several injuries which led to excessive bleeding,” circle officer Baheri Kalu Singh said.

He said that police was trying to trace the assailants with the help of call details of Rastogi’s phone and all ‘suspected’ numbers have been put on surveillance. The CO said that the BJP leader’s family members have not lodged an FIR so far stating that they would first cremate him.

“A missing report of Rastogi had already been registered in Kichcha in Uddham Singh Nagar of Uttrakhand,” he said.

Rastogi, hailing from Uttarakhand and vice-president of BJP’s Kichcha unit, was found dead in Baheri area of the district in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday night. “Rakesh Kumar Rastogi, who went missing Friday morning, was prima facie killed somewhere else and later his body was disposed of in Baheri area,” Senior Superintendent of Police J Ravindra Gaur had said.

The official had said that Rakesh’s skull had serious wounds and there were strangulation marks around his neck.

Image: BJP leader Rakesh Rastogi. Photograph: Facebook.