Himachal ex-CM Jai Ram Thakur prevented from going to Salooni

Dharamsala, June 16

The police today prevented Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur from going to Salooni area of Chamba district where the body of a youth cut into pieces was found a few days ago. A frenzied mob had set ablaze the house of the murder accused at Salooni yesterday.

The local administration had imposed Section 144 of the CrPC and the police stopped Thakur at the border of Salooni subdivision. Thakur, when contacted on phone, told The Tribune that he along with his associates was stopped near the Chowrah Dam at the border of Salooni. “We sat on a dharna there for an hour and later returned, as the government did not allow us to go to Salooni,” he said.

Thakur said that while the situation was tense in Salooni area but neither Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu nor any of his Cabinet colleagues visited the subdivision in Chamba. Also, they were not allowing us to visit the area. “The BJP will organise protests at the district level against the alleged police inaction and the deteriorating law and order situation in the state,” he added.

The former Chief Minister said that the BJP was sticking to its demand for an NIA probe into the case, as financial transactions in the bank accounts of one of the accused in the murder case had raised doubts.

Meanwhile, the situation in Chamba district remained tense. A heavy deployment of police force was made in Salooni. The Salooni Sangharsh Committee comprising right wing organisations such as the Bajrang Dal and the VHP held a demonstration in Chamba town.

DIG, Kangra range, Abhishek Dullar, said that none of the people, who had set ablaze the house of the murder accused, had been arrested. The Salooni police had arrested Shabir, Farida and Musafir for the youth’s murder and also detained two minors.