Police report says she entered hotel without telling team leader
Report mentions number of cops, not availability of firearms with them
SHIMLA: Himachal Pradesh Police’s report on the shooting of an assistant town planner by a guest-house owner during a drive to raze illegal construction in Kasauli said the officer entered the premises without informing the team leader. But the report, which HT accessed on Thursday, two days after the murder, mentioned only the number of police personnel assisting the drive, skipping any mention of whether or not they too had firearms.
Assistant town planner Shail Bala Sharma was shot by Vijay Singh, owner of Narayani Guest House, who was finally arrested on Thursday.
In the three-page status report, police said that for demolition of unauthorised hotels following orders of the Supreme Court, subdivisional officer of Solan was deployed as in-charge for law and order, while sub-divisional police officer (SDPO), Parwanoo, was the nodal officer. “The demolition process was being carried out peacefully but in the meantime, after lunch break, Shail Bala, assistant town planner, also co-ordinator of team 1 headed by Jagpal Singh, naib tehsildar, entered the premises of Narayani Guest house along with Shavinder Pal Singh, range officer, forest department, and labourer(s) without intimating the head of the team constituted for the purpose,” the report, submitted to the government, read.
SUICIDE THREAT
Soon after, firing took place and members of a team in the adjoining Hotel Shivalik rushed to the spot and noticed that Shail Bala was lying on floor and a labourer, Gulab Singh, had also sustained a bullet injury, it added. SDPO Ramesh Sharma directed team members to follow hotel owner Vijay Singh who fired with his pistol, the report claimed.
The report also mentioned that Vijay Singh had, before the murder, threatened to kill himself if demolition was carried out. The adjoining Hotel Shivalik’s owner too had “created nuisance” and threatened cops with “dire consequences”; SDPO Ramesh Sharma rushed to that hotel to take stock of the situation, said the report. “Detention of the owner was ordered but his relatives present on the spot gave assurance to calm him down,” the report said, adding that the owner later calmed down and the demolition was started.
“After that, during the interaction of this team with the owner of Narayani Guest House, the owner contested the demolition process with arguments that only one floor of his guest house was illegal. He also requested the team not to demolish the additional floor of his guest house but to allow him to do the same himself within a period of two days... He threatened the team that he would commit suicide if his appeal was not admitted,” said the report. It added that the SDPO gave directions to Dharampur SHO to round him up to avoid any untoward incident.
COPS SILENT SPECTATORS?
In all, four teams were constituted for demolition of illegal structures in hotels in Kasauli, and 31 police personnel were deployed at different sites next to each other, the report underlined. Six Home Guards volunteers were present too. But the report does not mention whether the cops were equipped with firearms and why they did not retaliate, if they had guns, when the guest-house owner opened fire.