Punjab Police to file closure report in woman drug officer murder case

Police tell high court there is no role of drug smugglers in the murder

The Punjab Police has ruled out the role of drug smugglers in the murder of Neha Shoree, zonal licensing authority, Kharar, on March 29 this year.

A status report filed in the Punjab and Haryana high court says that police have decided to file a closure report, which is pending for completion of formalities.

Balwinder Singh, 49, a Morinda resident, had opened fire at Neha, in her office at Kharar before shooting himself with his .32 bore pistol in broad daylight on March 29. The probe has been conducted by the Bureau of Investigation (BoI), Punjab.

“No other person except assailant Balwinder Singh was found to be responsible for the commission of offences of the present case. And the motive behind the said occurrence was found to be the denial of fresh licence to the wife of assailant, Balwinder Singh, for opening a medical shop, which caused severe hardships to the family members of the assailant,” the report says.

The report describes Shoree an honest and hardworking officer, and further says the accused might have suspected her for the inability of getting a fresh licence in the name of his wife after best of efforts, resulting in bad financial conditions that “provoked his mind” to kill her. It also says that the accused was under the influence of the drug Tramadol when he committed the crime.

The report also rules out involvement of any insider from her office in the crime and says that since the assailant shot himself dead, the possibility of getting any clue has ended.

“It’s a foolish story (they have come up with). It is despicable. Instead of finding out the culprits, police is trying to cover up,” said Neha Shoree’s father, Captain Kailash Kumar Shoree (retd), 70, reacting to the development.

It was in November that the high court had sought a status report, acting on the petition of Shoree’s parents. They had demanded that police be directed to present a final probe report before the area magistrate and a status report be sought before the HC. They had told court that Neha was murdered due to her honest working as she had become eyesore to drug cartel. The court will take up the matter again on January 29.