Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday assured strict action against the accused in the Faridabad shooting incident, reported ANI. Two men shot dead a 21-year-old woman outside her college in Ballabhgarh in Faridabad district on Monday. Both the accused – identified as Touseef and Rehan – have been arrested and sent to police custody for two days.
“The culprit in the Ballabhgarh incident has been arrested,” Khattar told reporters in Hisar. “Strict action will be taken against the culprit. No criminal will be spared.” He added that the situation of a crime cannot be predicted. “What is important is how fast the police investigates and arrests the culprit after a crime is committed,” said the chief minister.
Meanwhile, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij said that the main accused in the incident is a relative of a Congress leader. Vij added that a kidnapping case that was lodged in the matter in 2018 was withdrawn by the woman’s family under pressure from the party.
“I have asked the newly-formed SIT to investigate the matter starting from the developments in 2018,” Vij told ANI.
The incident took place at 3 pm outside Aggarwal College in Ballabgarh on Monday. The woman, identified as Nikita Tomar, was a final year BCom student. She was coming out of the college after appearing for an exam, when the two accused tried to push her into a car at gunpoint. A video shows the woman trying to resist their attempts and save herself from being shot. After her refusal, they shot her with a pistol and she succumbed to her injuries during treatment at a hospital.
Ballabgarh Additional Commissioner of Police Jaiveer Rathi said Touseef and Rehan were waiting in the car for Tomar to come out of the college. “Nikita had come to college for an exam,” he added. “Accused, Touseef, whom she knew, tried to speak to her and then shot her.”
Tomar’s family alleged the killing was linked to “love jihad”. “Love jihad” is a conspiracy theory espoused by right-wing Hindu activists alleging that Hindu women are forcibly converted by Muslims through marriage. The relatives said they had filed a police complaint against Touseef, the main accused in 2018 but the matter was settled later. Tomar’s family accused her former classmate of harassing her for several months. In their complaint, her brother said he shot her because he held a grudge against her.
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