A hotel owner on Tuesday shot dead an assistant town and country planner in Himachal Pradesh’s Kasauli town during a Supreme Court-mandated anti-encroachment drive.
Hospital authorities declared Assistant Town and Country Planner Shail Bala Sharma brought dead, The Indian Express reported, quoting Dharampur Station House Officer MS Thakur. The police identified the accused as Vijay Thakur, who owns Narayani Hotel near Kasauli, and said they have not yet arrested him.
An employee of the public works department Gulab Singh was injured.
The police said Vijay Thakur fired two rounds into the air when the officials began razing his hotel’s encroachments, and a stray bullet hit Sharma, according to The Tribune.
Vijay Thakur’s wife and mother claimed he has been under “mental stress” and “on medication” for several months.
Upholding a National Green Tribunal order on April 17, the Supreme Court said that all illegal constructions made by hotels and resorts in Kasauli must be demolished as they were endangering people. Observing that some hotels had permission for a two-storey building but had built six storeys, the court said illegal constructions were responsible for landslides in the area.
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