HP: Mob burns down house of Chamba murder accused

Shimla: Mob on Thursday burned down the house of a murder accused in Chamba, prompting authorities to impose prohibitory orders restricting people’s movement to prevent further flare ups.

Police evacuated the family members of the accused and detained about 10 people involved in the incident, police said. Chamba SP Abhishek Yadav said there was no casualty in the incident. Videos of mob breaking the police barricades have also gone viral.

Musafir Hussain, currently in jail, has been accused of killing a 28-year-old Manohar, reportedly the uncle of a minor girl who he was in a relationship with. Hussain had allegedly invited Manohar to his house and beat him up with a stick till he fainted and afterwards chopped his body into eight pieces and dumped them into a drain. A large number of people on Thursday broke inside Hussain’s house and burned it down despite police deployment.

The district authorities have issued prohibitory orders under section 144 CrPC in Chamba’s Salooni area for two months to avoid escalation of tension in the area. Pieces of Manohar’s body were recovered from a drain in Bandal panchayat of Salooni on June 8, two days after he went missing. Police have since arrested three persons, including Hussain. The other two accused are Farida, Hussain’s wife, and one Shabir. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu called the killing and subsequent burning of the house unfortunate and not in tune with the “Dev Sanskriti” of Himachal.

He said “the culprits” have already been arrested and if the opposition wants an NIA probe into the matter, he has no objection to it. “This is a very sensitive matter and the opposition BJP should not try to create tension and drive political mileage from this incident,” Sukhu said. He also reviewed the law and order and held a meeting with all deputy commissioners and superintendents of police in the context of the Salooni incident in Chamba district and directed to keep strict vigil.