Son of Congress leader shot dead in Yamunanagar
The murder is suspected to be the fallout of an old enmity
AMBALA: The son of a local Congress leader was shot dead while three of his friends received bullet injuries as a group of armed men allegedly fired at them outside a marriage palace in Yamunanagar on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.
The deceased was identified as Janu Valmiki, younger son of Rajinder Valmiki, a Dalit rights leader, and the injured are Mohit Sharma, Rajat and Anmol.
Police said the shootout took place at around 1am when they were leaving from a marriage palace after attending a function in Jagadhri, and at least 15-20 men arrived and a few of them started firing at them.
Mohit, who received three bullet injuries on left leg, told the police that three unidentified men fired at him and a few others then moved towards Janu with the intention to kill him.
“They surrounded him and fired at his stomach, while we both fell on the road and Janu went unconscious. They fired at Rajat and Anmol as well. Later, people from the marriage palace started gathering and they fled while firing in the air,” he said in a statement.
A case was registered under Sections 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 307 (attempt to murder), 302 (punishment for murder) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Arms Act and the SC/ST Act at Sector 17 HUDA police station on Saturday.
Deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Aashish Chaudhary, leading an SIT to probe the case, said, “Several teams are behind the suspects but no one has been arrested so far.
The injured are undergoing treatment at a private hospital and are said to be stable. The murder could be fallout of an old enmity that erupted during Holi in 2020 and due to area domination in their liquor business.”
Janu’s elder brother, Raman Valmiki who was undergoing trial in an attempt to murder case in the Holi episode, had died at the district jail under mysterious circumstances on April 25, 2020.
Janu was also attacked in December last year.