Tribune News Service, August 2, 1997

KARNAL, Aug. 1 -- Armed intruders murdered Mrs. Madhu Sharma, wife of Mr. V.D. Sharma, SDO in the PWD here and her 10-year-old son Muna. Mr. Sharma (36) and his elder son Vikas were seriously injured.

Mr. Sharma and Vikas have been moved to Delhi in a precarious condition. The murder of Mrs. Madhu Sharma and her son has sent shock waves in the city. Mr. V.D. Sharma is the younger brother of Dr. G.D. Sharma, a renowned physician of Haryana.

The intruders seem to entered the Sharma house in Sector 14 last night. The four victims have received serious head and neck injuries. Mrs. Sharma had a serious head injury which resulted in her death. It seems the attackers entered the house by breaking open the sliding door of the drawing room. The children were sleeping in their bedroom while Mr. Sharma and his wife were sleeping in adjoining room which was connected through the bathroom with the children's room.

Form the ghastly murder scene in the house, it appeared the first entered the children's room and thrashed them iron rods. Both Mr. Sharma and his wife seem to have rushed to the children's room where upon the armed intruders pounced upon them. Mr. Sharma withstood the blows of the attackers.

The intruders then ransacked the entire house and are reported to have escaped with valuables from the house. The motive of the murder seems to be robbery. The murder and attack on the victims came to light this morning after 10:30 when the servant of the house came to the cleaning work.

The intruders had locked the house form the outside while escaping. The servant scaled the wall and found blood flowing out of the bedroom of Mr. Sharma. The room was then broken open and Mr. Sharma and his elder son were found struggling for life while his wife and younger son had already died.

Almost all leaders of the political parties, ex-ministers and legislators have condemned this ghastly murder and the incident. The Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of the Police are reported to have visited the scene of murder.

In the all probability, the murders seems to be the handiwork of a notorious gang of robbers which has been active in the city. Surprisingly, the house of Mr. Sharma located in front of the Government College for Boys on the main road which is often very busy.

The incident speaks volumes about the lack of security for citizens in this town and it appears the police has not been patrolling during the night.

Hundreds of people collected at the residence of Dr. G.D. Sharma and large crowds could also be seen at the residence of his brother after the news spread like wildfire in the city. Meanwhile, the police is investigating the case.