The Times of India News Service, Tuesday, August 19, 1997

KARNAL: Although the Karnal police claims to have solved the murder of 35-year-old Madhu Sharma and her son 10-year-old Aditya by arresting five members of a former criminal community, many people here have expressed doubts over the police version.

According to the police, the gangsters had forcibly entered the house of PWD SDO V.D. Sharma on the night July 31. The intruders first entered the children's bedroom and hit them with iron rods. On hearing their cries, the Sharmas, sleeping in the adjoining room, rushed to their aid. In the ensuing scuffle, Ms. Sharma and Aditya were battered to death while Mr. Sharma and another son, Vikas, were seriously injured. They are still in hospital.

The killers ransacked and looted the house before escaping. The alleged killers have been identified as Dharampal, Kalu, Chhatarpal, Murari and Rati Ram. They were arrested four days after the crime was committed following a public outcry.

Doubts have been raised in several quarters over the way the police handled the case. It is alleged that the police had made the arrests only to pacify the people who were upset by the double murder. District president of the Congress Kuldeep Sharma said although the alleged killers were arrested just four days after the crime, no injury marks were found by the police on the person of the suspects despite the fact that a scuffle had taken place between the Sharmas and the gangsters.

Beside, the fingerprints lifted from the scene of crime were not tallied with those of the arrested persons. Nor was any judicial sanction sought for the purpose. No attempt was made to analyze a bunch of hair found in Aditya's fist.

He said the Bawarias, an erstwhile criminal community, had a typical style of operation. They distributed the booty immediately after committing a crime and then dispersed. Surprisingly, the police had arrested all the suspects from one place but failed to recover even one single stolen article form their possession.

The police also appeared to be in a hurry to wrap up the case, Mr. Kuldeep Sharma alleged. Normally, anyone arrested for theft was detained in police custody for more than 20 days, but in this case, the police promptly presented the five suspects before the court in 24 hours without preparing proper case and they were remanded to judicial custody.

But superintendent of police Sudhir Mohan denied that the arrests were eyewash. Similar murders had been committed in Panipat and Sonepat and they had not been solved so far, he added.

He said the police had sought police remand for 14 days though the court had given them only one day's remand. However, the suspects were booked in another case of burglary, registered at the Sadar Karnal thana and their police remand in that case was given by the court till August 14. Three other members of the gang were still absconding, he added.

The murder has created a fear psychosis in Sector 14, where the crime took place. Some residents pointed out that a similar robbery has occurred in Uncha Samama village three days before the murder in Sector 14. The killers had decamped with over Rs 2 lakh and left behind a gandasi and phali, weapons which would have been used had anyone in house awakened. Four houses in Manimat village, near Kunjpura, were also reported to have been robbed in one night recently, they added.

It was pointed out that the Bawarias and the Sansis had settled I 10 or 12 villages along the banks of the Yamuna river, which divides Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

These communities, it was alleged, would shift to their villages in U.P. after committing a crime in Haryana.