Padmavati row: Body found hanging at Jaipur's Nahargarh fort with warnings

Jaipur: A mysterious death has given a dark turn to the controversy over Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film Padmavati. On Friday, morning walkers found a body hanging from parapet of Jaipur’s famous Nahargarh fort.

The 40-year-old deceased was identified as Chetan Saini, a resident of Jaipur’s Shastri Nagar from the Aadhaar card found in his pocket. He was working at a jewellery shop. The police also found a ticket to Mumbai.

It’s not clear whether it was a murder or a suicide. The police are not willing to say anything except that it was too early to comment.

However, Chetan’s brother said that it was a murder. “My brother cannot commit suicide; it looks ike a murder,” said Ram Ratan Saini adding that he would demand an investigation into the death. He said that his brother had nothing to do with the threat note written on rocks.

The messages that Ram Kishan referred to are warning found written on stones close to the body. The messages are written with charcoal but no charcoal marks were found on the hands of the deceased.

Each message referred to the movie Padmavati, prima facie implied that it has something to do with ongoing protests and threats over Bhansali’s film, which has angered Hindus in particular the Rajput community for alleged distortion of historical facts and depiction of the supposed 14th century Mewar queen Rani.

One message said, “Padmavati, Hum sirf putle nahi latkate ( Padmavati, We hang not just effigies) and Padmavati ka Virodh (in opposition to Padmavati).” Another message read, “Chetan Tantrik mar gaya (Chetan tantrik is dead).”

Chetan Raghav was the tantrik who described Rani Padmini’s beauty to Khilji after being thrown out of the Chittor court by Rana Ratan Singh.

While, these messages appeared to be addressed to those associated with the film, 10 other messages indicated that there was a deliberate attempt to stoke religious tensions.