Former councillor’s suicide: Panipat SP among three cops booked

Panipat superintendent of police (SP), a sub-inspector and an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) have been booked on the charges of abetting suicide of former councillor

Panipat superintendent of police (SP), a sub-inspector and an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) have been booked on the charges of abetting suicide of former councillor Harish Sharma.

The fresh first information report (FIR) was registered on the complaint of Harish’s daughter Anjali Sharma, a day after the former councillor’s body was recovered from a canal in Sonepat and his family members and supporters blocked the NH-44.

In the police complaint, Anjali alleged that her father was reeling under depression for the past few days after the Panipat police booked him, her and eight others for allegedly selling crackers and assaulting cops on Diwali night.

She also alleged that the police were mounting pressure for his arrest, which forced him to commit suicide.

Harish’s body was fished out of Delhi parallel canal near Khubru village in Sonepat district on Sunday, four days after he jumped into it.

On Monday, a case as registered against Panipat SP, then tehsil camp police post in-charge and ASI Mahavir Singh under sections 306 (abetment to suicide) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Model Town police station in Panipat.

A three-member police team headed by ADGP Sandeep Khirwar is already investigating the case and two cops, SI Baljeet and ASI Mahavir Singh, have been suspended.

Despite repeated attempts, comments of Panipat SP Manisha Chaudhary could not be elicited.

Bodies of schoolteacher, his two sons recovered from canal

Three days after the wife of a junior basic teacher (JBT) allegedly consumed poison at a village in Fatehabad, the police recovered bodies of the teacher and his two sons from a canal on Monday.

Fatehabad deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Satender Singh said they had fished out bodies of a 35-year-old teacher and his two sons, aged 15 and 13, from a canal.

“The woman is still undergoing treatment at a hospital in Bhattu Kalan and her condition is stable. We are probing why his wife consumed poison and he jumped into a canal. Their uncle told us that the teacher, along with his two sons, was staying in a rented accommodation at Bhattu Kalan, while his wife was staying at his parental home in his native village. When someone told the teacher that his wife had consumed poison, he, along with his two sons, went to a canal and jumped into it,” the DSP added.

The DSP further said they have sent the bodies for post-mortem examination and started an investigation into the matter.

“We would talk to teacher’s wife to know about the reasons behind such extreme step,” he added.