‘Himanshi’s mother keeps embracing the Kadamba tree her daughter planted’

Since the day Himanshi was found dead with a bullet injury to her head at her in-laws’ house in Ghaziabad, her mother has not left the side of a Kadamba (burflower tree) planted by her daughter at their Badaun residence a year ago.

Since the day that 27-year-old Himanshi was found dead with a bullet injury to her head at her in-laws’ house in Ghaziabad, her mother has not left the side of a Kadamba (burflower tree) planted by her daughter at their Badaun residence a year ago. She sits there crying silently and embracing the plant as if it was her daughter.

Himanshi’s family has alleged that the scene of crime was tampered with as the police reached the location an hour after the incident. (HT File Photo)

“Her mother is in deep pain, having lost her only daughter. Himanshi planted the tree a year ago. It is around 6 feet tall now. Since the day her mother received news of Himanshi’s death, she has been sitting beside the tree for hours, often embracing it,” Himanshi’s father, Hiralal Kashyap, who was a UP minister during the Bahujan Samaj Party regime, said.

“Himanshi’s 78-year-old grandmother, who wanted her to join civil services, is completely shattered as they were very close,” he said.

Himanshi sustained a bullet injury to her head and died under mysterious circumstances at her in-laws’ residence at Sanjay Nagar in Ghaziabad on Wednesday.

“Apart from the tree, we also have many of her art works, painted with Rajasthan in the backdrop. Her paintings display women in Rajasthan who walk long distances in search of water and also scenes of women drawing water from wells. She was loved by everyone in her school and college, where she secured first class marks till her post-graduation,” Hiralal said.

Himanshi’s father-in-law, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Rajya Sabha MP, Narendra Kashyap, is close to BSP leader Mayawati. Narenda is behind bars at Dasna jail, along with his wife and son Dr Sagar.

“I will request behanji (Mayawati) to expel the MP from the party,” Hiralal said.

“We will be contesting the case as we believe that she was beaten up before the incident. She had four different injury marks on her body, which are sufficient to indicate the reason behind her death. The post-mortem examination report has been manipulated,” Hiralal said.

“We will register our statements before the investigating officer soon. We also suspect that the crime scene was disturbed as the police had no information about the incident and could not secure the original scene of crime. The time gap was sufficient to disturb the scene of crime,” he said.