8 convicted in Hisar triple murder case

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, March 2

A Hisar court on Tuesday convicted eight persons in a triple-murder case. The incident took place in Shekhpura village on March 13, 2017, on the day of Holi.

The Additional District and Sessions Judge Ved Prakash held eight of the 23 accused guilty in the case.

Those convicted included Subhash Chander, Ashok, Ajit, Dalel, Umed, Ramphal, Sandeep– residents of Shekhpura village and Krishan of Fatehabad district.

The then DSP of the Haryana Police, Bhagwan Dass, who was posted in Hisar at the time of incident, was also an accused in the case.

Two days after the triple murder, the DSP shot himself in Panchkula and he later died during treatment.

The police said that a verbal spat during Holi took an ugly turn and three members of a family, including Ram Kumar (60), Pradeep Kumar (28) and Mukesh Kumar (30) were shot dead by the accused belonging to neigbouring family.

The police booked 23 accused, including the then Hisar DSP. The police sources said that two neighbouring families were having an enmity for some years and a verbal dual while playing Holi turned out to be the immediate provocation.

The complainant Sanjay Kumar had alleged that they were challenged by a group of men when they were sitting in the house. As they came out, the DSP, Bhagwan Dass, who was sitting in a blue beacon fitted car directed his accomplices to kill them (complainant’s family).

In the ensued firing, Ram Kumar (60), Pradeep Kumar (28) and Mukesh Kumar (30), a BSF jawan, who had come home on a leave to celebrate Holi were shot on the spot, two others Mukesh alias Pinnu and Rajesh also suffer injuries and were admitted in a private hospital.

The villagers said that the families of Subhash Chander (convicted side) and Balbir Pradhan (victim side) had old enmity. During the panchayat polls, Subhash Chander had opposed Balbir Pradhan, who was a former sarpanch, which had resulted in violent scuffle between the two groups. Balbir Pradhan had urged the district administration to transfer DSP Bhagwan Dass as one of his family member was candidate in Sarpanch poll and who won the election.

The quantum of the punishment would be awarded on March 5.