HC seeks status report from state
CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday sought a status report on the probe into the murder of Kharar drug officer Neha Shoree.
Balwinder Singh, 49, a Morinda resident, had opened fire at Neha, zonal licensing authority of Food and Drug Administration, in her office at Kharar before shooting himself with his .32 bore pistol on March 29 in broad daylight. Singh, a chemist, was nursing a grudge against Shoree for suspension of his drug licence, as per police.
The probe is being conducted by Bureau of Investigation (BoI), Punjab. The HC bench of justice HNS Gill acted on the petition of Shoree’s parents, father Capt (retd) Kailash Kumar Shoree (70) and mother Arun Shoree (65). They have demanded that police be directed to present final probe report before area magistrate and a status report be sought before the high court. The high court, putting state and police on notice, has sought a status report by December 20.
Their counsel Bhrigu Dutt Sharma told the court that Shoree was murdered due to her honest working as she had become an eyesore in the eyes of drug cartels. From the beginning, the parents have been telling the police that the murder was handiwork of the drug mafia. They even met chief minister Capt
Amarinder Singh in April demanding a Central Bureu of Investigation (CBI) probe, the court was told.
They cooperated and coordinated with police and supplied all the relevant material to police. But the police have been working in an opaque manner and not revealing anything on outcome of the probe, the court was told.
Representations were given in July to the DGP and director, Bureau of Investigation, and SSP, but to no avail despite lapse of seven months period, the court was informed. “No information was being provided to the petitioners about the progress of investigation despite repeated representations and visits to various officers of the police and civil administration. This points to the scuttling and botching up of the investigation and suppression of the material collected by the investigating agencies of Punjab,” the petition submitted