A 25-year-old man identified as Manohar Lal, belonging to the scheduled caste was chopped into more than seven pieces for having an alleged affair with a Muslim girl as per media reports. The accused men have been identified as Shabbir Ali, Shafaqat, Mussafir Hussain and a woman Farida, one of them being the brother of girl.
Manohar Lal’s severed body was recovered from under a waterfall on June 9 and the local media covered the matter on June 13 only after the Hindu Jagran Manch intervened. Following the intervention, a massive protest was organised by the locals and amidst the protest some unidentified people set ablaze the house of the accused family.
Following the protests, the administration imposed Section 144 for two months in the village. Other than the media coverage there are shocking facts to be addressed in the case which are being covered up the state administration.
On June 14, Organiser reported this brutal killing of Manohar Lal and brought the video statement of the victim’s family from the ground as well. They demanded the culprits to be hanged. The same day, on June 14, a massive protest was organised by the locals demanding strict action and on June 15, the house of the culprits was set on fire.
The cause of Manohar’s death has been claimed to be his affair with the Muslim girl as per the media coverage but the locals raised the following issues which may lead to Manohar’s murder.
- The accused family was illegally cutting the Deodar trees and exporting them. Manohar, who used to pass by their house every day, might have seen it.
- The accused family was into illegal animal smuggling and hence he could have killed the victim.
- In winter the whole village moves to the plains but the accused family stayed there only, even during the snowfalls. This raises suspicion as, the village shares border with Kashmir.
- The accused family illegally procured and transported the medicinal plants grown in the forest and was well connected. In the century area, the family is into the killings of western tragopan.
- During demonetization, the accused family exchanged a sum of Rs 95 Lakhs and currently had Rs 2 crore in their bank accounts.
- During the 1998 Chamba massacre, the accused family was interrogated by the police. Notably, The Pakistan-trained Islamic terrorists massacred 35 Hindus, mostly labourers, and injured 11 in the Chamba district bordering Doda in Jammu on early hours of that day.
- The accused family used to organise ‘Jamaat’ in the area.
- These Bakarwals living in the area have grown over time and are mostly migrated from the Kashmir valley.
Manohar Lal, 25, was the only son of his parents and is survived by his parents and three sisters. He was the only breadwinner of the family of three. His work was to load material from the ground to the hilltop on a mule (Khacchar).
On June 6, Manohar left his home around 7:25 in the morning after his employer called him. He took two of the mules with him, and after reaching the house of the culprits he went missing. The family filed a missing persons report the same day, however, the administration failed to locate him.
They searched every nook and corner of the village but failed to locate him, amid investigations, the officials of the IRB informed them about gunny bags under the waterfall. They collected as many as three gunny bags from the spot, they were stuffed with a dead body, it was male.
The body was severed into seven pieces, the head and limbs were chopped off from the torso and it was then divided into two pieces. The bags under the waterfall were covered with large stones.
The state general secretary of the Hindu Jagran Manch, Kamal Gautam who went to meet the victim’s family on June 9 told Organiser in a telephonic interview on June 14 that, the police have detained multiple people and have arrested three culprits so far. He said, the local media under the influence of the administration tried to cover up the issue as not a single report in the case was published till June 13, until the national media picked the case and the picture of Manohar’s butchered body went viral on social media.
About the family he said, the aged parents are in a vulnerable situation following their son’s demise, they are poor people, he said. Until his visit, the family believed that being poor and Dalit they will not be severed with justice. Gautam said after Manohar went missing two of the Mules were standing there, on the murder spot, till the body was recovered.
On June 16, Gautam told Organiser that no Hindu was involved in the burning of the accused family’s house and that this is an attempt to malign the protest and demand of justice by the aggrieved family. On behalf of the Hindu Jagran Manch, Gautam demanded NIA and CBI intervention in the case.
He made some shocking revelations as, the illegal encroachment by the accused family is as high as 100 bigha. The family is illegally transporting medicinal and other herbs from the forest, they are shooting and killing the state bird and even the forest department is no less than a mute spectator to this exploitation.
Adding to his revelations, Gautam said, he demanded a drone inquiry of the hilltop as the family of the accused is a Migrated Muslim family which has no links in Himachal, they all have moved from Kashmir. Notably, the local Muslims are also protesting against the accused family.
He said the CM of the state is doing politics in the matter, he has not even assured compensation money to the victim’s family, assume an opposite murder case, then the CM would have sat the whole day at the victim’s house, he added.
Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Vinod Kumar Dhiman told the media that, “Though the victim was Hindu and the accused are Muslims, there was no communal angle in the matter. The victim and accused were having an affair. We have arrested five people, two juvenile females, and three adults. Prima facie, there is no evidence of the communal angle in the murder,” he said.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu called the killing and subsequent burning of the house unfortunate and not in tune with the “Dev Sanskriti” of Himachal.
Following the missing persons FIR sections of murder IPC 302 were imposed against the accused, no press note has been issued by the police as of now.
On June 14, the locals and the Hindu activists called for a massive protest in the village, the demanded the accused to be given stringent punishment as exemplary action. They raised slogans like ‘police prashashan murdabad..hatyaron ko fansi do..’ against the administration.
Gautam said, the accused family belongs to the bakarwal jaati and live mostly on the hilltop, they rear cattles including cow, the family is also involved in cattle smuggling, he added.
Notably, Superintendent of Police, Chamba, Abhishek Yadav told media that those sharing pictures of the severed body of the victim on social media will be punished by the administration.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday demanded National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into Chamba murder case even as the situation turned volatile with an angry mob first creating ruckus at a police station and then setting the house of the accused on fire.
Meanwhile, the BJP has demanded NIA probe into the murder case. Addressing a press conference at Shimla, Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur said that the main accused has 3 bighas of land in his name while he has encroached upon about 100 bighas. Jai Ram claimed that it has come to his knowledge that the accused had ₹2 crore cash in his account.
“How did a shepherd acquire so much property is a question that needs answers,” he said. Thakur alleged that the accused was involved in suspicious activities for a long time and lived for almost a year at a secluded place which raises doubts.
Meanwhile, chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu strongly condemned the incident and called for upholding unity, harmony and peace.
He further emphasised the need to refrain from giving the incident political or communal colours. “Such incidents should not be flared to achieve the ulterior motive just for sake of politics at the cost of communal harmony,” said Sukhu.
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