Click to play videoMumbai: A day after RTI activist Satish Shetty was murdered the police have detained four people in connection with the killing.
The residential area of Talegaon is still in shock after the brutal murder of Shetty, who was hacked to death on Wednesday allegedly for his work against land grabbing.
Now Shetty's family says he could have been saved had the police acted on time
"He had registered an application with the SP of the area but they day before he was to get police protection they did it," claims Shetty's brother Sandeep Shetty,
What is baffling RTI activists and other social activists is the way in which Shetty was murdered. Shetty was murdered at a place which is residential and a very busy area, with the murderers possibly sending out a message to not cross our path and that is what is worrying other RTI activists.
"This is an assault on the right of a citizen to get information about where the money is being used by local self government and other bodies," says RTI activist Vineeta Deshmukh.
Shetty's murder is not an isolated incident in Maharashtra. Activist Navleen Kumar who worked against Thane's land mafia was murdered in 2002 and in 2005, activist HS D'lima was attacked in Mumbai and despite identification, the attacker was never caught.
The Mumbai police failed to give protection to AGNI activist James John who was attacked in 2006 whereas activists Anandini Thakoor and Navin Pandya were attacked last year but the police has not taken any action after the FIR.
Activist Sumaira Abdulali who heads the Movement against Intimidation Threat and Revenge against Activists advocates stricter action
"We want a CBI inquiry into this case and also into all the previous cases similar to it," says Sumaira Abdulali.
Activists say that the government has not fulfilled its promise of setting up a special cell to look into such attacks.
Now they plan to meet the Chief Minister to take further action in this direction.
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