HP murder case: BJP, Congress spar after photos of accused with opposition leaders go viral

Even as an eerie calm prevailed in Chamba after violent protest following brutal murder of 21-year-old youth, photos allegedly one of the accused attending BJP meetings have gone viral on social media

Even as an eerie calm prevailed in Chamba after violent protest following brutal murder of 21-year-old youth, photos allegedly one of the accused attending BJP meetings have gone viral on social media. The photos were posted by social media users alleging that BJP used the incident to fan communal sentiments while the accused was occupying front row in its meetings. In one of the photos the accused is seen in a meeting of Dalhousie legislator DS Thakur while in another photograph he is allegedly sitting in the front row. The viral photos are believed to have been clicked during the 2022 Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections campaign. Congress spokesperson Puneet Malhi said that this has exposed the real face of BJP which used the incidents for political gains while the accused of the murder was their worker. “The BJP workers might have burnt down the house of accused to destroy evidence of his links with the opposition party,” he alleged.

On June 15, the police had stopped BJP leaders from going to Salooni. (HT File Photo)

Dalhousie MLA DS Thakur said that the photo was of a meeting of minority community meeting and he didn’t know all of them personally nor the person was a party member. “My stand is clear we want capital punishment to those who have committed such a heinous crime,” said Thakur.

On the other hand, former deputy speaker and Chruah MLA Hans Raj described the photos as fake. Segment Han Raj when contacted said that it was a propaganda being run by the Congress people to defame BJP. “We verified the photos and they are not genuine. The face in the two photographs being circulated is not of the same person,” he said. Manohar Lal, a youth from Bhandal area of Salooni subdivision of Chamba district, was brutally murdered in early this month and his chopped into pieces. He had gone missing on June 6 and his body parts were recovered on June 9. Police have arrested 11 members, including four minors, of a minority community family on charge of murder. The murder took communal colours on June 13 when some Hindu organizations flared up the crime on social media.

A mob burnt down the two houses of accused family prompting the district administration to imposed Section 144 of CrpC which prohibits assembly of four or more people. On June 15 the police had stopped the BJP leaders including the party’s state president Rajeev Bindal and ex-CM Jai Ram Thakur from going to Salooni to meet victim’s family. While the opposition BJP accused the Congress government of sheltering anti-social elements, the Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu hit back stating that the BJP created unnecessary furore while the police had already arrested all the accused.

Meanwhile, the main accused in the murder case Musafir Hussain, his wife and nephew were sent to 12-day judicial custody by a Chamba court on Monday. They were produced in the court after their police remand ended.