Kasauli murder: Woman official killed in Himachal; SC takes note; updates

A woman assistant town and country planner was shot dead on Tuesday in Himachal Pradesh's Solan district by a guest house owner. The woman officer had gone to seal an unauthorised construction on the guest house owner's property under a directive issued earlier by the Supreme Court. The Court on Wednesday took sou motu cognizance of the firing incident in Kasauli. The case will be assigned before an appropriate Bench on Thursday.

Narayani Guest House owner Vijay Kumar allegedly fired two rounds in the air as employees began the demolition drive in the Dharampur area. Police officials told news agencies that a stray bullet hit Shailbala Sharma, the assistant town and country planner, killing her on the spot. Labourer Gulab Singh also received a gunshot injury in his abdomen.

Officials said that the accused subsequently fled from the scene and a manhunt was launched to nab him.

Here are the top developments around the killing of the woman town and country planner in Kasauli:

1) SC takes sou motu cognisance of the Kasauli incident: The Supreme Court on Wednesday on its own took cognisance of the firing incident in Kasauli where a woman government official was shot dead allegedly by a hotel owner over the demolition of an illegal structure. A Bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta termed the incident as extremely serious and noted that the government officials had gone there to comply with the court's direction to seal unauthorised constructions.

Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls: BJP, Cong slug it out for 68 seats today

Sixty-eight Assembly seats will on Thursday go to the polls in a single phase in Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh, where the BJP is determined to take power. Officials said everything was in place for a smooth conduct of the polling in 7,525 booths.

A total of 5.025 million electorate, including 1.9 million women and 14 transgenders, will decide the fate of 338 candidates including 19 women. The vote count will be held on December 18 along with those of Gujarat.

The CPI-M has fielded candidates on 14 seats while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which made its debut in the hill state in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, has preferred to stay away.

Political observers say the contest between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is neck and neck as there is no clear wave in favour of any party.

It is literally a do-or-die battle for both the Chief Ministerial faces. Both are struggling for their political survival.

One is veteran Congress leader and incumbent Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, 83, who is pushing hard to get to the helm for the seventh time.
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