Photo: Viraat Kothare / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Former Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Atar Singh Bhadana was killed after a clash with villagers over a mining lease and crusher plant in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district late on Sunday, police and hospital officials said.
The Haryana-born leader, who represented Bayana in the Rajasthan Assembly from 2003 to 2008, was attacked at his crusher site near Bhonda village under Weir police station after he restarted operations that local residents had long opposed.
How the clash unfolded
According to Hindustan Times, Bhadana reached the mining lease on Sunday evening. Hundreds of villagers from Bhonda and neighbouring Raipur gathered and allegedly attacked him with lathis. His bodyguard, Gagan Sharma, was also injured.
Bhadana was first taken to Weir Community Health Centre, then referred to Jaipur because of his critical condition. Sharma was referred to Raj Bahadur Memorial Hospital in Bharatpur. Doctors at Sawai Man Singh Hospital in Jaipur declared Bhadana dead around midnight.
SMS Medical College principal Dr Deepak Maheshwari said death resulted from severe trauma and heavy blood loss, not a gunshot, after early rumours of firing spread. Family members had alleged he was shot. Local Hindi reports put the attacking crowd at roughly 70 to 80 people.
Two-year dispute over the crusher
Police and villagers said the lease stood in the name of Bhadana’s wife, Kamlesh Bhadana, with a crusher near the hills. Residents of Bhonda and Raipur had staged sit-ins and blocked the approach road for about two years, alleging mining vehicles used gram panchayat pasture land.
The crusher had remained shut under local pressure until Bhadana obtained court permission and restarted it on Sunday. Weir station in-charge Dhirendra Singh said police reached after word of a clash between villagers and the plant owner, then found Bhadana critically hurt.
Police reached the spot after being informed about a clash between villagers and the crusher plant owner.
Dhirendra Singh, Weir police station in-charge
What happens next
Police teams have begun raids to identify and arrest those involved. Heavy force was deployed around Bhonda and at hospital premises amid local tension. The case turns on whether the deaths and injuries amount to culpable homicide arising from a land-use conflict that had simmered for years.
Mining and crusher disputes are a recurring flashpoint in parts of Rajasthan, where pasture rights, dust and truck traffic often pit local communities against lease holders. Bhadana’s death as a former legislator raises the political stakes and will put pressure on the state administration to show both arrests and a clear account of how the plant was allowed to reopen despite prolonged protests.
