Click to play videoMumbai: On Monday, Rahul Raj, a young man from Patna came to Mumbai, held a bus hostage, brandished a gun and demanded to speak with the city police commissioner. Through the drama – caught on a mobile phone camera – he kept saying his only enemy was Raj Thackeray.
Rahul Raj was shot dead by the police, shortly after the drama.
His family who lives in Patna is outraged and says the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief is morally responsible for his death. Rahul’s sisters Pooja and Priyanka spoke with CNN-IBN. Excerpts from the interview:
CNN-IBN: This must be a difficult time for you. You were with him few days before he came to Mumbai. Was he disturbed by the MNS violence? Was he glued to TV, reading newspapers?
Pooja: No, nothing. He was a fun-loving person, he was interested in cricket. He hardly had the time to read papers to give a political comment. He wasn’t like that and politics was never on his mind. He hardly knew anything about MNS and hardly ever spoke about them. Even I want to where he got the weapon from.
Priyanka: Today is the death anniversary of Indira Gandhi and we appeal to Sonia Gandhi to understand. We can’t trust any of these reports.
CNN-IBN: Was he ever concerned that his job may be affected? Did he feel threatened by the north Indian violence?
Priyanka: He never talked about it. Before 24th, he didn’t know anything about the violence in Maharashtra. He thought the violence was directed against a group of people – like those who run taxis or those taking railway exams etc – and not individuals. We too want to know what happened. We want a Supreme Court inquiry.
CNN-IBN: The day that he left your house – you Anything at all as sisters?
Priyanka: No, he was not disturbed. He was a fun-loving guy and always told me if he didn’t get a job this year, he would try next year and so on, that there were a lot his classmates who were unemployed. He was definitely not depressed.
Pooja: When he reached Mumbai, he had his certificates with him, he gave proper identification papers in the hotel and his phone number too – he wasn’t trying to hide anything.
CNN-IBN: He was holding a gun. Any idea where he could have procured that?
Pooja: We want to know too. He couldn’t hold it properly, you can see it in the visuals. We want to know where he got this from?
CNN-IBN: The anti-north Indian violence is condemnable but end of the day, your brother resorted to violence. He’s holding a gun and potentially could have harmed passengers.
Priyanka: He didn’t kill anyone, he didn’t hurt anyone, he did not hijack the bus. It was a situation but whoever wanted to walk out of the bus, did. The footage of his encounter is missing. Saying my brother hijacked the bus is a lie.
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