Slain legislator's son-in-law jumps parole

Former Haryana legislator Relu Ram Punia's son-in-law who was serving life sentence in prison for killing the politician and seven others has jumped parole, police said.

Bilaspur SHO Gurmail Singh said that Sanjeev Kumar was on a two week parole from Kurukshetra jail and was to report back on May 31. Sanjeev Kumar had given his address as village Changnouli in Bilaspur area of Yamunanagar, he said.

However, Sanjeev Kumar neither reached at the address mentioned by him in his parole nor returned back to Kurukshetra jail, the SHO said.

We have registered a case under the Prisoners Act against Sanjeev Kumar, he said.

Relu Ram Punia's daughter, Sonia, and her husband, Sanjeev Kumar, were sentenced to death for killing the former legislator and seven other members of his family in 2001.

Their death sentence was later commuted to life.

Sonia and her husband had clubbed Relu Ram Punia (50), his wife, Krishna Devi (41), daughter, Priyanka (14), son, Sunil Kumar (23), daughter-in-law, Shakuntala Devi (20), grandson, Lokesh (4), and his two granddaughters, Shivani (2) and two-month-old Preeti, to death at their farmhouse at Litani village in Hisar on the night of August 23, 2001, while they were asleep.

The case had sent shock-waves throughout the country.

Punia had been elected to the State Assembly in 1996 from Barwala constituency in Hissar district.