Una: A gruesome murder of a 22-year-old woman in Jalda Kodli village In Gagret Sub Division, district Una led to a clash between local villagers and police. Police has arrested a 24-year-old man for allegedly murdering the woman then burying her body in a field, behind a local temple.
The deceased has been identified as Neha Devi, while the accused has been identified as Vikas Dubey (24), resident of Uttar Pradesh. He was working as a helper in the same temple. During the crime, the head priest was not present at the spot.
According to reports, she was studying in Post Graduate College, Una and was set to be married next month. On April 3, she went missing under mysterious circumstances. A missing complaint was lodged in the Gagret police station. Police launched a search operation to track down the missing girl via her mobile phone location which was found near a temple.
During the investigation, police interrogated Dubey on suspicion who later confessed that he had indeed murdered the girl.
The accused said that he had hit the girl with an iron rod on her head on Saturday. He packed her body in a bag after she died and he buried her in a field behind a temple. After this, police recovered the body and sent it for postmortem.
Enraged over the incident, local residents demanded the police to hand over the accused to them. Agitating villagers also clashed with the police while trying to get their hands on the accused. The also pelted stone in the heat of the moment, resulting in injuries to a police driver.
As the situation went out of control, Superintendent of Police (SP) Una Arjit Sen Thakur, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) HQ Ramakant Thakur, DSP Haroli Anil Kumar Mehta along with additional police force reached the spot. Later police managed to disperse the angry mob and took the accused to police station.
SP Una said that the accused has been booked for murder and further investigation is on.
Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri hit out at state government and said Una has become the crime capital of the state under the regime of Jai Ram Thakur led government.
Comparing this incident to ‘Gudiya Kand’ Agnihotri said that on one hand state government raise slogans of ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ while on the other hand government is doing nothing to stop crime against women.
“The state of law and order in Himachal Pradesh can be judged by this incident” he added.
