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.