Himachal Pradesh Shail Bala Sharma Murder: Injured Person Dies of Bullet Wounds, Guest House Owner to Face Double Murder Charge
Officer Shail Bala kept saying to the guest house owner Vijay Singh regarding demolition that she was only following the (Supreme) Court's order but Vijay opened fire that has claimed two lives now.
Kasauli, May 13: The person who was injured in the firing in Kasauli during demolition drive that took place on May 1 died last night in a hospital. Assistant Town and Country Planning officer Shail Bala Sharma was killed in the firing. The Supreme Court had taken Suo Motu cognizance of the killing of Assistant Town Planner and officer Shail Bala Sharma, who was killed for undertaking a court ordered anti- encroachment drive in Himachal's Kasauli district.
The Himachal Pradesh and Delhi police in a joint operation had arrested the suspect who shot at the officer leading to her death. According to a report in the Tribune, the police on Thursday arrested Vijay Singh, the owner of Kasauli guest house believed to have shot the woman officer. The Himachal police in a joint operation with Delhi police caught Vijay Singh from Mathura, Uttar Pradesh.
Sharma was allegedly shot dead by Vijay Thakur Singh, who owns Narayani Guest House in Kasauli after an altercation during the demolition drive that the officer was carrying out following court orders. His was one of the thirteen hotels that was declared as unauthorized structures by the apex court across the hill resort in Himachal Pradesh. Taking note of the May 1 killing of the officer in Kasauli, the Supreme Court bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta told the counsel appearing for Himachal Pradesh that, "We might stop passing any orders if you are going to kill people".
On May 1, Tuesday, the Assistant Town Planner Shail Bala Sharma had reached the Narayani guest house along with her team at around 11.30 am. When Sharma and her team reached Narayani Guest House in Dharmapur area in Solan district, its owner Vijay Singh asked them to keep off his property. When Sharma tried explaining him that she was only following Supreme Court orders, he still kept opposing the demolition.
After lunch, when the team returned to carry the demolition and tried to get the place evacuated, Singh opened fire on them, killing Sharma and also injuring another person. That person succumbed to his bullet wound last night and now and the guest house owner Vijay Singh will face double murder charge. As per reports that came in after officer Shail Bala was killed, the accused Vijay Singh had killed her after she refused to accept bribe from the guest house owner for sparing his guest house. This irked Vijay Singh who then planned to kill her and did it on May 1 after a short altercation regarding demolition. Officer Shail Bala kept saying that she was only following the (Supreme) Court's order but Vijay opened fire that has claimed two lives now.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 13, 2018 04:28 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).