Himachal Pradesh: Hotelier kills woman officer during demolition drive

A 51-year old lady assistant town and country planner Shail Bala Sharma was shot dead today during demolition drive at Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh to demolish illegal construction on recent orders of Supreme Court.

Shailbala Sharma along with four teams of the Town and Country Planning Department were razing unauthorised construction in the area, on the order of the High Court, when the incident took place.

When Sharma and her team reached Narayani Guest House, its owner, Vijay Singh asked them to keep off his property. When the team went ahead with the demolition and tried to get the place evacuated, Singh opened fire on them.

According to the Police, Sharma was shot in the back and died on the spot. An employee of Public Works Department (PWD) was injured and had to be rushed to Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER).

Meanwhile, the accused managed to flee the spot.

Himachal Pradesh Police spokesperson, superintendent of police (SP) Khushal Sharma said that a case has been registered at Dharampur police station and search is on.

On April 17, the court had given gave hotel owners 15 days to demolish unauthorized construction. They were also told to deposit a fine of up to Rs 15 lakh each

A bench of justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta had observed that some hotels and resorts authorized to construct only two-storied buildings had built six-storied buildings. 

(With inputs from ANI)