New Delhi/ Kasauli/Shimla: The man accused of killing a woman officer leading a demolition drive against illegal construction was nabbed today in Mathura, police said. In a bid to change his appearance, Vijay Singh shaved his moustache and trimmed his hair but he was caught sitting near a temple, they said. Police had yesterday released Singh's photograph and offered a reward of Rs 1 lakh for clues. ”The accused was arrested from Mathura in a joint operation by Himachal and Delhi Police. He would be brought to Himachal after obtaining transit remand. The police would interrogate him and recover the weapon used for shooting the officer,” DGP Sita Ram Mardi said in Shimla.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Thursday pulled up the Himachal Pradesh government for allowing large-scale illegal constructions in the state and remaining a mute spectator to the shooting down of an official who was supervising the removal of encroachments and illegal structures.
A bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta sought a status report from the government on the brutal gunning down of Shail Bala Sharma, a woman assistant town-planning officer by a resort owner on Tuesday. On Wednesday the court had taken suo motu cognisance of the incident. The bench told state advocate-general Ashok Sharma that the court was against regularisation of the illegal structures as such an action would be violation of rule of law and encourage even honest citizens to break the law.
