Himachal Officer Shot By Hotelier Didn't Tell Team Before Going In: Cops

Kasauli: The hotel owner charged with murder of a government official in Himachal Pradesh's Kasauli, after initial attempts to block the demolition team by threatening suicide, had deployed his workers too for the job. But after the lunch break, Shail Bala entered the guest house along with a forest ranger and labourer without informing her team leader.

She was shot dead soon after, according to a status report filed by state police chief Sita Ram Mardi about the incident in the Supreme Court. The labourer who accompanied her was also shot.

The report was submitted before the police managed to track down the hotel owner Vijay Singh who had fled after the shooting. He was arrested on Thursday evening from Uttar Pradesh's Mathura and the gun recovered from behind his house in Kasauli, popular with tourists in the summer.

Shail Bala was the coordinator of one of the four teams constituted by the Kasauli district chief to carry out the demolition on the Supreme Court's orders.

The status report does not give the reason for Shail Bala's decision to go into the house or what happened inside.
 But police officers said Vijay Singh had told them how he had pleaded with her to spare his building and attempted to bribe her. He also resented that his mother "touched the officer's feet" and begged, but she didn't budge saying she had orders from the Supreme Court.

The top court was livid when it had heard about the official's death while carrying out the demolition and sharply reprimanded the state government.

Shail Bala "wasn't killed because of implementation of the Supreme Court order, but because of non-implementation of the law," Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta said. It had also questioned why the police weren't able to protect the officer and warned that the court might stop passing any orders if the government was going to get people killed.

According to the Himachal police chief's status report, the owner of a nearby Shivalik Hotel had also threatened the team if illegal structures of his building were demolished. Ramesh Sharma, a local senior police officer rushed to the spot and ordered his detention. But his relatives promised that they would calm him down.

At the adjoining Narayani Guest House belonging to Vijay Singh, a similar sequence played out. He contested the demolition process, initially citing his pending appeal before the top court and then seeking a two-day grace period to demolish the illegal structures on his own.

"He (also) threatened the team that he would commit suicide if his appeal is not admitted and the demolition process is executed like this," the status report said.

Police officer Ramesh Sharma responded to the suicide threat with orders to the Dharampur police station chief "to round him up to avoid any untoward incident. He apparently calmed down and allowed the demolition process to be carried out peacefully and also deployed his own workers for smooth demolition."

"The demolition process was being carried out peacefully but in the meantime. after the lunch break, Shail Bala, who was the coordinator of team No. 1 headed by Jagpal Sing, Naib Tehsildar Kasauli entered the premises of Narayani Guest House.... Without intimating the head of the team constituted for the purpose," the report told the court, piecing together the sequence of events.

Officials heard gun shots some time later and rushed in. Shail Bala was lying on the floor. Vijay Singh took advantage of the situation and fled.