Shail Bala was supervising a demolition drive in Kasauli when she was shot dead by a hotel owner.
The hotel owner who allegedly
killed a woman officer who was leading a demolition drive in Himachal Pradesh's Kasauli has been arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Vrindavan, Solan Superintendent of Police Mohit Chawla said.
"She was behaving like an ideal officer, just wouldn't relent... My mother even touched her feet pleading for relief," accused Vijay Singh told the police.
The man, Vijay Singh, had been missing since Tuesday when he opened fire outside his property killing the woman officer on the spot and injuring one more person. There was a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh for any information about him.
According to the police, they had been tracking Vijay Singh's location which kept changing from Delhi, Mathura and finally Vrindavan. Singh had shaved off his moustache and tonsured his head to evade arrest. He stayed near the Mathura refinery and the Banke Bihari temple. He used a postman, rickshawpuller and another man's cellphone to contact a man in Solan. "That was a big lead," an officer said.
Singh told the police that he threw away the pistol he used to fire in Solan.
Assistant town and country planner Shail Bala was part of a team of civic officers which was tasked by the Supreme Court with razing illegal structures in 13 hotels and resorts in the town, 60 km from capital Shimla. The administration had found the structures unsafe for tourists.
While the officers were approaching the gate of Narayani Guest House in Solan's Dharampur, owner Vijay Singh reportedly fired shots in the air to scare off the labourers.
Three shots were fired. Two of them hit Shail Bala and a labourer, while a bullet whizzed past another officer of the electricity department.
The Supreme Court pulled up the authorities and the police for failing to ensure safety of the public servants who were doing their job. The government has been asked to submit its report on the incident.