Two days after an official of the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) was shot dead in Gurgaon’s Manesar while surveying a piece of land, police have arrested two people for the crime. According to police, the accused, Abhimanyu alias Mannu and Rameshwar alias Bhand Harsukh, belong to Manesar village. “During questioning, the accused revealed that the HSIIDC, as a part of the acquisition process, had ploughed the piece of land in question, which the accused had sown. This angered the two, and they decided to take revenge,” said Subhash Boken, PRO of Gurgaon police. The driver of the vehicle was also shot at and is still undergoing treatment. The disputed land in question is part of the 400-acre land in Manesar which, as per Supreme Court orders, was supposed to be acquired by HSIIDC after it was found that the government, under former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, had illegally given it to developers between 2004 and 2007. However, according to officials, local residents claim the land belongs to them. After the murder, police had questioned locals and identified the accused by Wednesday evening, following which four-five teams were formed to conduct raids and nab them. “A Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Dharamveer Singh, ACP (Manesar), has been formed to conduct further investigations and arrest any others who may have been involved. The probe is still underway,” said Boken. The incident comes barely three months after a similar one in Himachal Pradesh’s Solan area, where a government officer supervising a demolition was shot dead by the owner of a guesthouse.
