Hotelier who shot official held in Mathura
SHIMLA: A hotelier who allegedly shot dead a woman official during a Supreme Court-ordered drive to remove unauthorised construction in Himachal Pradesh’s Kasauli was arrested from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, police said.
Vijay Singh, the owner of Narayani Guest House in Kasauli, was arrested in a joint operation by Himachal Pradesh Police and the special cell of the Delhi police from a temple in Mathura, where he had fled to after allegedly shooting assistant town planner Shail Bala Sharma on Tuesday, Solan superintendent of police Mohit Chawla said.
Police said according to information from locals, Singh fled the guesthouse at which he allegedly shot Sharma and reached the road to Sanawar, 6km from Kasauli, by using a forest trail through a nearby hill.
Police said Singh switched his mobile phone off, but later made some calls that allowed his location to be traced. The SP said the accused boarded a Rohru-Chandigarh bus from the ShimlaKalka highway. “We also scanned closed-circuit television footage from Chandimandir which showed a man resembling him sitting in the bus,” said the SP, adding that the bus conductor told the police that Vijay alighted from the bus at Tribune Chowk. He was enquiring about a bus to Delhi, the conductor told the police. To conceal his identity, he shaved off his moustache and got a haircut, said the SP.
Acting on the information, the team contacted the Delhi Police crime branch. “His location was traced to Mathura refinery after he called somebody from his cellphone. The police finally found him at a temple,” said Chawla. Police will bring Vijay to Solan on Friday where he will be produced in a local court, he said.
Meanwhile, the state government transferred Solan SP Mohit Chawla who was supervising the investigation, late on Thursday evening.
GOVT TRANSFERS SOLAN SP, CONFERS HIMACHAL GAURAV PURSKAR ON SLAIN WOMAN OFFICIAL