Himachal officer’s murder: SC seeks status of probe, says non-implementation of law led to killing

Assistant Town Planner Shail Bala Sharma supervises demolitions in Kasauli at 11.30 am Tuesday. Three hours later, she was shot dead, allegedly by owner of one of the properties targeted. (Express Photo by Jaipal Singh)

The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the status of probe into the killing of an assistant town planning officer during a court-ordered anti-encroachment drive in Himachal Pradesh’s Kasauli and directed the state government to apprise it of the steps taken to ensure no unauthorised construction is carried out in the state.

The apex court curther said assistant town planning officer Shail Bala Sharma died due to non-implementation of law related to unauthorised constructions. “The death is not a result of the court’s order. It is a result of the non-implementation of the law. The incident is very unfortunate. You have to ensure rule of law and implementation of law related to unauthorised constructions,” said a Bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta as it pulled up the state government.

The bench also it directed the Himachal Pradesh government to inform the court about the status of implementation of its order to demolish illegal constructions at 13 hotels in Kasauli.  The court will hear the matter next on May 9.

On Tuesday, Sharma was allegedly chased and shot dead allegedly by a hotelier, Vijay Thakur, during a demolition drive against unauthorised structures in hotels across the hill resort. Eyewitnesses said Thakur fired at least three bullets at her inside the Narayani guest house in Mandudhar on the Dharampur-Kasauli road. Sharma was brought dead to the Dharampur government hospital. The accused is on the run. Police have announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh for information leading to Thakur’s arrest.