RTI activist Rajesh Savaliya (31), who fought against the education mafia, was found dead in Navsari on Wednesday. The deceased bored multiple injuries on his head and shoulder and was found on NH-8 in Navsari. He was under treatment in a private hospital in Surat and was declared dead on Wednesday night.
Rajesh left his home on Tuesday evening by informing his parents about going to his friend’s construction site at Pardi in Valsad district. Rajesh was given a lift by one of his friend’s mother and sister in a car who dropped him on NH-8. On Wednesday evening, Rajesh’s friend Vijay Patel received a call from Navsari Civil hospital and was told about Savaliya being severely injured.
Police said that Vijay along with five others reached Navsari Civil Hospital and learnt that the 108 ambulance services received a call wherein a person with severe injuries was found lying on the roadside near Sai Baba temple on NH-8 in Navsari. Rajesh was found in a critical condition following which he took Rajesh to Surat and got him admitted to a private hospital on Tuesday night.
Rajesh was an RTI activist and had started a drive to expose irregularities committed by education mafias in the city and made many enemies. Rajesh had also complained to the District Education officer about many schools in the city operating without proper licenses or approval letters. He had been regularly receiving threat calls from the education mafia, and the last call he had received around was one-and-half months ago.
Punagam Police Inspector B N Sagar said, “We have called up his friend who runs construction site at Pardi in Valsad district to record his statements. At present, we have registered an accidental death in the case and during the investigation, if we found that it is murder, we will register murder offence. We will take out call data report of Rajesh and call those who had been regularly talking to him, to get more information.”
