Firing at contractor: Former Haryana minister gets bail
They cannot suppress my voice and I will continue my fight (against mining mafia) and expose influential people supporting it. NIRMAL SINGH, former Haryana minister
KARNAL: Three weeks after being arrested and booked for attempt to murder for firing at a contractor, former Haryana minister and Congress leader Nirmal Singh was granted bail by a district court in Yamunanagar on Thursday.
The court of additional district and sessions judge Chandra Shekhar the bail on a bond of ₹50,000.
Nirmal’s daughter Chitra Sarwara, along with hundreds of sloganeering followers, reached Jagadhri jail to receive her father, where he was lodged since April 26.
Immediately after his release, Nirmal said he was being implicated in a false case as he was raising his voice against the mining mafia in the region.
“They cannot suppress my voice and I will continue my fight (against mining mafia) and expose influential people supporting it,” the former minister said.
Talking to mediapersons, Chitra said the case was politically motivated and her father was implicated on false charges. “We have full faith in the country’s judiciary and will continue our fight till we get justice and prove this case as false,” she said.
Nirmal was arrested by the Yamunanagar police for allegedly firing at a contractor, Karan Singh, in mining zone at Ballewala area of Yamunanagar district on late night of April 24.
The minister allegedly fired at Karan after an altercation over the possession of a passage in Ballewala mining zone in Yamunanagar.
Defence counsel Anil Kaushik argued before the court that the alleged incident happened in the farmland of the former minister and he was not at the spot and was falsely implicated.
Nirmal was booked along with 12 others 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), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 307 (attempt to murder) and 395 (punishment for dacoity) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Sections 25/54/59 of the Arms Act.
In his complaint filed at the Khizrabad police station, Karan, a resident of Mandoli village had alleged that his JCB machine was filling pits on a unmetalled road from Bailgarh to Lakkar village. Since the road passes along the land of the former revenue minister, he was objecting the movement of mining vehicles from this road and allegedly closed the road by digging pits.
As the owners of stone crushers and screening plants were facing problem, they decided to reopen the road and the earthmover was being used to fill the pits. “Around 8.30 pm on April 24, Nirmal Singh, along with his aides, including Sultan Singh, Aslam, Manan, Sandeep, Ramu, Rohit, Chhota Aslam, Sajid and Abdul, reached the spot and Nirmal opened several rounds, in which the operator of the earth mover had a narrow escape but the bullet hit the JCB and they fled the spot with a warning,” alleged Karan in his complaint filed with Yamunanagar police.
This is not the first instance when the Congress leader was booked as in May 2004, he was arrested for allegedly beating a polling official at a booth in Konkpura village of Naggal assembly segment of Ambala parliamentary constituency.