HC summons top Himachal officials over man's death

The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Monday issued notice to Himachal government officials, including the chief secretary and the director general of police, over alleged police inaction following a man's suspected murder.

A bench of Chief Justice Mansoor Ahmad Mir and Justice Tarlok Singh Chauhan, which took suo motu cognizance of a letter written by Leelavati about her husband Krishan Dutt's death, directed the superintendents of police in Shimla and Solan districts to personally appear before it on May 11.

Leelavati of Solan district's Kandaghat town alleged police inaction to nab those behind her husband's mysterious death.

She said her husband had gone to Shoghi town near Solan on December 31 last year with Rs.250,000 in cash for making purchases in connection with their son's wedding.

Leelavati got a phone call informing her that her husband's head had been chopped off at a sawmill in Shoghi. When she visited the spot, her husband's body was found charred.

Leelavati doubted the role of the sawmill's owner in her husband's death.

Police did not take any action against the suspects even after four months of the incident, she alleged in the letter. Even the first information report has not been registered, she added.