A day after the police recovered the bodies of Mam Chand and eight members of his family from the Bhakra canal, his daughter Shalini, the only surviving member of his family, took the administration to task for doing nothing to help her distraught father. Meanwhile, the Haryana Government suspended a police officer and CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda promised a CBI probe into the incident. But nothing could bring solace to 33-year-old Shalini. “Where were all these officers when my parents were being harassed by businessmen who owed them crores? My family was killed by these businessmen whose names are written on the walls of my father’s house. Why hasn’t the police taken any action against them yet,” Shalini cried as a group of local politicians and district officials looked on dumbfounded.Shalini, who lives with her husband Rajesh in New Delhi, had rushed to Pehowa on March 16, the day she was informed that Mam Chand and family had disappeared, leaving behind a suicide note scribbled on the walls of the house.Shattered by the mounting debt on him due to non-payment of dues by various merchants, Chand (55) had driven his wife Nirmala Devi (50), sons Pradeep (35) and Amit (32), daughters-in-law Babli (32) and Seema (29), three grand-daughters Nancy (3), Nishika (4) and Ishika (2) straight into the Bhakra canal near Karnal on the night of March 15. Chand and his two sons used to run two trading agencies in Pehowa in the name of Singla Enterprises and Singla Trading Company.Even as various politicians, led by Hooda, INLD leader Ajay Chautala, state Agriculture Minister H S Chatha, who is also the Pehowa MLA, and Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal, called on Chand’s relatives, his agitated friends blocked the Kurukshetra-Jind road at Pehowa crossing for two hours in the evening.After a delegation of relatives met him, the Haryana CM assured a CBI probe into the matter. It was only after the CM’s assurance that relatives cremated the bodies in the evening. ASI Mahinder Lal, who allegedly misbehaved with Chand’s relatives and friends, was placed under suspension with immediate effect, while SHO Jai Singh was transferred.
