BSES employee shot dead near Najafgarh house

A 48-year-old woman was shot dead by a bike borne assailant in outer Delhi’s Najafgarh area, just a few metres away from her house, on Monday evening.

Manju, a BSES employee, was on her way home when she was intercepted by a biker who shot her thrice. Manju collapsed on the ground and bled to death.

Her daughter, Megha, who was inside the house, heard the gunshots and rushed out to see what had happened, when she saw her mother lying on the road, bleeding profusely. She immediately made a PCR call and with help of the police, she rushed Manju to Ayushman hospital where she was declared dead on arrival.

“The biker intercepted her just outside her house and before she could react, he pumped three bullets in her. She sustained three bullet wounds on her chest and abdomen. Her body has been sent for a postmortem examination. We have registered a case in the matter and have begun the investigation,” DCP outer, MN Tiwari said.

According to sources, the police suspects Megha’s husband, Pradeep Solanki to be behind the murder. Solanki, who is presently lodged in Bhondsi jail in Haryana has several cases of murder, robbery and abduction against him. He is also a history sheeter of Baba Harisad Nagar with several criminal cases registered against him in the said police station.

Sources said that he did not get along well with Megha and the couple had been living separately since he went to jail.

“During investigation, we found out that Megha and Solanki had a matrimonial dispute and were living separately. It was found that he had threatened Megha several times with dire consequences,” a police source said.

“He had reportedly threatened to teach her a lesson. In her statement, Megha has said that she is certain about Solanki’s involvement in the murder. It is a possibility that he hired someone to eliminate Manju,” the source said.

Deputy Commissioner of Police MN Tiwari, however, maintained that these allegations need to be verified. “We are verifying these claims. We are investigating the case from all angles including the involvement of Manju’s son-in-law as he is one of our prime suspects,” he said.

The police are also accessing footage from CCTVs installed in the area to identify the rider who executed the murder.

HT spoke to more than a dozen loco-pilots, former high-ranking railway officials and doctors who blamed increasing stress levels for a rise in the number of drunken train drivers.

“In summer, the temperature inside the loco cabins (engines) rises to above 50 degree celsius as none of the trains have AC loco cabins,” said a long distance train driver on the condition of anonymity for fear of official reprisal. “We don’t get good sleep in railway retiring rooms as most of them are close to stations. Pay scale is highly unsatisfactory. In case of any incident, everyone find faults with the driver. All these result in huge pressure,” said another driver of an inter-state train.

Psychologists don’t see the claim of stress as incredible. They say alcohol consumption due to stress has been on the rise in the country over the past 10 to 15 years, and that train drivers can’t remain isolated from this fact. “Alcohol is being used across the board in the society to relieve from the stress because the traditional stress-busting mechanism is not available now. That’s why liquor sale is up 10 to 15 times in the last ten years,” said Sujata Sharma, a clinical psychologist.

Staff crunch also adds to work pressure. Railway sources said up to 40% shortages exist at all levels of loco-pilots in every zone. In the Delhi division, the sanctioned strength of passenger train loco-pilots is 203 but 40% of the posts are vacant.

“We drink occasionally and only when for another 8 to 10 hours we don’t have to attend any duty,” said a driver of a goods train.

Expressing his displeasure over denying tickets to those having strong support on the ground, veteran Congress leader Walia said he had threatened to resign after he failed to budge central leadership involved in the selection procedure.

He said that he has not yet formally resigned from the party but has sent an SMS to the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ajay Maken and AICC appointed state affairs in-charge PC Chacko expressing his dissatisfaction.

“They have set up the screening committee just for show. Actually the candidates are being selected according to whims and fancies. I have put in so much effort and now after the final list was out last night, I feel I have wasted my time and energy,” Walia said.

Walia said that he was in touch with the committee members and observers appointed by the Delhi Congress to pick nominees for three weeks but no one paid heed to his recommendations.

“My point is that everyone should have been taken on board while selecting candidates. I have explained this to senior leaders like PC Chacko, Ajay Maken and Anand Sharma on several occasions,” Walia added.

Yusuf said, “We have been associated with the party for long and we have contributed a lot for the party. It is true that the local Congress leadership was ignored including me. But I will never go against the party.”

Maken tried to play down the resentment in the party. He told HT that tickets were distributed after proper screening and feedback from grass root level workers.

“It is not correct to say that senior leaders were not consulted. They have come to the screening committee and had given their opinion in writing. They talked to Anand Sharma and PC Chacko as well,” he said.