Himachal employee injured in shooting during Kasauli demolition drive dies
Gulab Singh of Kanda village in Kasauli was put on a ventilator on May 10 after he suffered a cardiac arrest at Chandigarh’s PGIMER.
An employee of the Himachal Pradesh public works department who was shot during a demolition drive in Kasauli on May 1 died on Saturday night, 12 days after an assistant town planning officer was killed in the incident that led to massive protests in the region and sparked the ire of the Supreme Court.
Gulab Singh (46) of Kanda village in Kasauli was put on a ventilator on May 10 after he suffered a cardiac arrest at Chandigarh’s PGIMER. He was severely inju-red after allegedly being shot at by Vijay Singh Thakur, the son of a guest house owner, during the court-ordered demolition drive. “Singh died at 11pm (Saturday),” said a doctor at the PGIMER. “He was not stable and not responding to treatment after he was put on a ventilator,” he added.
Singh was admitted to the PGIMER after he was hit by a bullet few inches below his heart, when Singh allegedly fired following a heated argument during the demolition drive. Shail Bala Sharma, who was also hit, had died on the spot. Singh had fled from the spot, but was arrested from Mathura two days later.
The Supreme Court had on April 17 ordered the state government to demolish unauthorised structures in several hotels and guesthouses in Kasauli and Dharampur areas of Solan district.
After the May 1 shooting, the SC termed Sharma’s killing “extremely serious”, rebuking the Himachal government for failing to prevent it, and said it may stop passing orders if people are killed for executing them.
The Solan district magistrate had issued an order directing the affected hotel and guest house owners and any staff working there to deposit their firearms, weapons and ammunition at the nearest police stations.
(With inputs from agencies)