RESIDENT FILES ZERO FIR, ACCUSES MC OF CRIMINAL NEGLIGIENCE

SHIMLA : A Shimla resident lodged a “Zero FIR” against the Shimla civic body for criminal negligence and putting life of Shimla citizens under risk by supplying contaminated water to residents.

Sunil Jetly, a resident of Kusumpti filed a zero FIR at the Chotta Shimla police station on Thursday against Shimla municipal corporation mayor, deputy-mayor, councillors of Keleston area, commissioner and other officials.

He blamed them of risking the lives of the public by supplying contaminated water from the water tank near Kelston, Bharari, from which the skeletal remains of Yug, who was dumped into the water tank two years ago, had been found.

Jetly charged those responsible for cleaning the water tank of gross negligence and failure to detect the dead body since last two years.

The civic body’s claim of cleaning the water tank several times since 2014, including on January 29 this year, according to media reports, fell flat and proved beyond doubt that the civic body displayed gross neglect and the tank remained unclean for as long as two years, he alleged. SHIMLA: State police’s crime investigation department on Thursday took the culprits in the sensational murder case of four-year-old Yug Gupta to many locations across town as part of their investigation.

Yug was abducted on June 14, 2014 from near his house in Ram Bazar of Shimla. His skeletal remains were found inside a water storage tank in Keleston locality of the town 4 days back.

The three accused — Chander Sharma, Tejinder Singh and Vikrant Bakshi — on Thursday narrated how the boy was tortured before he was killed eight days after his abduction.

The three told the police that they had burnt the boy’s clothes in a godown to hide his identity.

One of the accused told the police that boy was just kept at a house they had hired at Ram Chandra Chowk from an Army officer. They not only tortured him but also forced him to drink liquor.

After they killed the boy, the accused they took out his vest and dumped it at Tara Devi — 8 kilometre away from the town.

The accused also recorded a video of Yug, in which he is undressed, with his hands tied and has packaging tape covering his body. The video, which the CID got from an accused’s mobile phone also shows Yug’s mouth plastered with tape.

The video was an essential clue for the CID, which helped them nab the culprits and draw crucial evidences to nail them. The video also shows Yug crying desperately and pleading before the culprits to let him meet his father. The accused were supposed to send the video to Yug’s father but did not do so for the fear of being traced.

THE CASE

On June 14, 2014, when Yug was playing outside his house, two of the accused were in godown near his house. They called the accused. Yug was familiar with Chander as they were neighbours and the familiarity helped Chander kidnap Yug. They gave him a chocolate and then a video game to lure him.

Chander was known to Yug’s father. Taking advantage of the closeness, he tried to mislead the police investigation as well. Being privy to the police investigation as well as the planned moves of the kidnappers, Chander gathered information about the properties of Yug’s father. Once, when the other two accused suggested that they should leave Yug as they could not zero in how to ask for ransom, Chander said no, saying that Yug recognised him. After this, they decided to kill the boy.

On June 22, the accused bundled Yug in a carton and took him to the Bharari water storage tank. The CID team recovered skeletal remains from outside and inside the water tank. It is believed that half of the skeletal remains had come out when it was cleaned in January and July this year, while some remained inside. The recovered items, including skeletal remains, to a forensic lab in Junga.