Booked for firing, former minister Nirmal Singh held

KARNAL: Former Haryana minister and Congress leader Nirmal Singh was arrested by the Yamunanagar police for allegedly firing at a contractor in mining zone in Ballewala area of Yamunanagar district on Tuesday night.

Yamunanagar SP Rajesh Kalia said the accused was produced in a court in Yamunanagar that sent him to judicial custody.

Nirmal and nine others were booked under Sections 148, 149, 323, 506, 307 and 395 of the IPC and Sections 25/54/59 of the Arms Act, for firing at a contractor, Karan Singh, after an altercation over the possession of a passage in the mining Yamunanagar’s Ballewala mining zone.

In his complaint filed at the Khizrabad police station, Karan, a resident of Mandoli village, alleged that his JCB machine was filling pits on an unmetalled road from Bailgarh to Lakkar village. Since the road passes along the land of the former revenue minister, he was objecting the movement of mining vehicles from the road and allegedly closed the way by digging pits.

As the owners of stone crushers and screening plants were facing problem, they decided to re-open the road and the earthmover was being used to fill the pits on Tuesday night.

“Around 8.30 pm, Nirmal, along with his accomplices Sultan Singh; Aslam; Manan; Sandeep; Ramu; Rohit; Chhota Aslam; Sajid and Abdul, reached the spot and Nirmal opened several rounds, in which, the operator of the earthmover had a narrow escape but the bullet hit the JCB and they fled the spot with a warning,” Karan said in his complaint.

However, in a video message, Nirmal said that the matter was politically motivated and he was being victimised as he was continuously raising the issue of illegal mining in the Kizrabad area of Yamunanagar district.