Shimla: A court in Himachal Pradesh’s Kasauli today remanded in five-day police custody the main accused in the killing of an assistant town planner while leading a demolition drive.
Vijay Singh, the hotel owner accused of killing Assistant Town and Country planner Shail Bala Sharma on Tuesday, was nabbed in a joint operation by the Delhi Police and the Himachal Police yesterday. The police tracked him down to Vrindavan, where he was seen outside Banke Bihari Temple.
He was today produced before the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Yuzvindra Singh under tight security.
The prosecution sought five-day police remand of Singh to recover the weapon used by him for committing the crime.The court allowed the plea.
Vijay Singh, the owner of Narayani Guest House, allegedly fired rounds at Bala when she was leading a Supreme Court-mandated demolition drive against illegal structures in Kasauli. A labourer was also shot at in the abdomen and his condition is stated to be critical.
According to reports, Singh told the cops that he had planned to kill the officer after she refused to accept the bribe in order to stop the sealing drive.
The Supreme Court on Thursday castigated the Himachal Pradesh government saying said it cannot “encourage” people who break the law, while observing that the “very unfortunate” killing of the officer was due to the “non-implementation” of law.
The Inter-State Cell of the Delhi Police was in touch with the Himachal Police, which shared inputs that led to them zeroing in on Singh’s location. The Delhi Police officials, with the help of technical surveillance, located Singh in Mathura, wherein a team was sent on Wednesday to make the arrest.
Interestingly, the accused was seen borrowing phones from passers by to make calls to his relatives. “He was approaching bystanders and telling them his phone was stolen and making calls. His description was matched with the photographs and the arrest was made. He was handed over to the Himachal Police,” said Rajesh Deo, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Inter-state-cell.