Chandigarh, June 4
Workers of the INLD are not able to digest three consecutive defeats of their party.

Some workers have started uttering something, though feebly, to even think of which was considered blasphemous in the tightly controlled regional party. A demand is being made in certain quarters of the INLD that there should be a change in the leadership.

This demand was first raised at a party meeting held in Kurukshetra a few days ago, where some workers said in the presence of Haryana INLD chief Ashok Arora that the next Assembly elections should be contested under the leadership of party secretary-general Ajay Singh if the party was to survive. One or two speakers even went to the extent of suggesting that party president Om Prakash Chautala and his younger son Abhey Singh should “take rest for some time”. Ajay is the elder son of the former Chief Minister.

Similar sentiments, though in guarded language, were expressed at a closed-door meeting of the party executive held in Hisar on June 1 to discuss the reasons behind the party’s defeat. Though after the meeting Chautala had rationalised the party’s defeat by saying that these elections were contested on national issues and not state issues, at least one senior leader is believed to have called a spade a spade at the meeting.

Informed sources say former Finance Minister Sampat Singh told the meeting that the party lost because of its “commercialisation” when it was in power. He said the people had not forgiven the party for this. He said many who enriched themselves during INLD rule worked against the party in certain constituencies while they professed loyalty to the party in others.

He said it was wrong to say that the party lost because of national issues. The party had lost because of its image. There were many other reasons, including the belief of certain leaders that their private life would not reflect on the party’s image. He said people were aware what sort of company these leaders kept. Regretting that in his entire political career he had not seen the party in a worse situation than now, Sampat Singh said the party had met this fate because it had deviated from the policies of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal.

In a hard-hitting speech, Sampat Singh said the INLD used to criticise former Chief Ministers Bansi Lal and Bhajan Lal for “killing” farmers. But people had not forgotten what had happened in Kandela when the INLD was in power. (At that time nine farmers were killed in police firing.)

The embittered leader said now incidents more serious than in Kandela were taking place. But the dispute was resolved by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda amicably within three or four days. But in Kandela farmers blocked roads for more than a month but no effort was made to redress their grievances. People had not forgiven this arrogance of the INLD leadership. Sampat Singh said in spite of allegations of corruption, Hooda’s image was that of an honest man.

Time will tell whether what Sampat Singh and some of the party workers had said will prove to be just the proverbial storm in a teacup or it will lead to bigger things. 

Jhajjar, June 4
The controversial “Dhakla encounter” was the outcome of procedural lapse on part of the police that failed to perform its duty with responsibility while nabbing an alleged criminal in Dhakla village here on October 12, 2008.

This revelation has been made in an inquiry report that was recently handed over to DC Nitin Yadav by SDM Satyender Duhan, who was the inquiry officer of the incident.

The report discloses that the police had not followed procedural norms while taking the extreme step of firing for controlling the alarming situation. The police should have given warning to the opposite party before opening fire but it failed to do so. This irresponsible act of the police turned out to be a leading cause behind the incident leaving a youth, Jasbir Singh, killed, the report said.

The report suggests that if the police had applied its mind to handle the situation tactfully by adopting procedural norms, the “encounter” could have been averted. As per sources, if the police has been put in the dock by the inquiry officer owing to its reckless approach during the incident, question marks have also been raised on the behaviour and spontaneous reaction of Jasbir and others in the investigation report.

The DC said since the report gave a clear indication against the police functioning hence comments of the SSP on the finding of the inquiry had been sought within 15 days so that further course of action could be ensured in this regard.

He maintained that the inquiry report had so far not been finalised as comments of the SSP were yet to come, following which the report would be immediately sent to the state government.

The police had gone to Dhakla village to raid a house on October 12, 2008, after receiving a tip-off that a most-wanted criminal was hiding therein. As the Jhajjar police raided the house of former sarpanch Sombir, there was exchange of fire between the alleged criminals and the police party. While Sombir’s brother Jasbir, accused in attempt to murder cases, sustained bullet injuries and died on the spot, a head constable and a constable also suffered bullet injuries in the “encounter”. Later, Sombir, who has several criminal cases against him, met the SP along with other villagers and alleged that his brother was killed cold-bloodedly. Sombir alleged that the police picked up Jasbir from their house and then shot him dead in the street outside the house. Thereafter, the inquiry of the incident was handed over to SDM Satyender Duhan.

Sonepat, June 4
A mother of two girls, Sunita, of Mandori village and a tantrik, Shaukat Ali, of Narela in Delhi were today sentenced to life imprisonment by Additional District and Sessions Judge Paramvir Nijar convicting both of them of the murder of five-year-old Mohit of the same village on May 29, 2007.

The court also imposed fine of Rs 7,000 each on the convicts.

Mohit’s uncle Raju had lodged a complaint with the police on May 29 that his nephew was missing since morning. The police found the body of Mohit in a field of “kikars” in the village on May 30. The body was wrapped in a plastic bag and pieces of bangles were recovered from the site by the police.

Suspecting the involvement of a woman in the crime and on the basis of information gathered from villagers, the police took Sunita into custody.

During interrogation, Sunita confessed to having committed the crime at the behest of Shaukat Ali, who influenced her to commit the crime to give birth to a boy.

Later, Shaukat Ali was arrested by the police and during police interrogation, he also confessed to his involvement in influencing Sunita to commit the crime.

She also confessed to having sacrificed another boy, Kunal, son of Deepak, of the same village on January 28, 2005, for the same cause. Kunal’s body was thrown in the Delhi branch of the WYC.

After receiving information that Sunita was involved in the murder of two boys, her husband, Ram Niwas, had committed suicide by jumping before a train near Safiabad two days after the incident.

Sirsa, June 4
Hundreds of villagers today blocked vehicular traffic at Lal Batti Chowk of the town on the National Highway No. 10 by placing the body of a person, who was found hanging from the pole of a transformer near Poharkan village in Ellenabad subdivision in this district on Tuesday.

The villagers, including kin of the victim, Brij Lal (40), a resident of Bhuratwala village, accused the police of shielding those responsible for the “killing” of the victim.

Brij Lal has nine children, including eight daughters, and the youngest one, a son, is just one year old.

“The victim worked in the fields of Partap Singh Khod and his brother Lalit Khod and was taken away by them on a motorcycle on June 1 from his residence. Later, his body was found hanging from the transformer,” alleged Lakshman, a cousin of the victim.

He alleged that they had approached the police for the registration of an FIR against Partap Singh and Lalit, but the police had been trying to shield the accused.

The agitators maintained that they would not lift the body from the road till the accused were put behind the bars.

Balbir Singh, DSP, Ellenabad, said the police was in the process of registering an FIR.

“The victim’s body was found hanging on June 1 and was identified by his kin the next day. The police sent the body for a postmortem by a board of doctors from the local general hospital. However, the doctors referred the case to the PGIMS, Rohtak, where the postmortem examination held today has revealed head injury as well as strangulation as the cause of the death,” the DSP said.

Rohtak, June 4
A youth was allegedly stabbed to death by some persons near Giravar village under Meham subdivision here today. The deceased has been identified as Suraj Mal, a resident of Gopal Pur (UP). He had been working with a brick-kiln in the village.

The Meham police has registered a case of murder in this regard.

The incident came to light in the morning when some passers-by spotted the body of Suraj Mal lying in a pool of blood near the brick-kiln at the village.

They immediately informed the police about the incident. The body bore multiple injury marks inflected by sharp-edged weapons.

The police took stock of the situation and sent the body to the PGIMS, Rohtak, for a postmortem.