With Kasauli killing accused behind bars, mother picks up pieces of her life from debris

Narayani Devi, whose son, Vijay Singh Thakur, is accused of killing assistant town planner Shail Bala Sharma leading a demolition drive against illegal construction, began her day early on Friday, digging deep into the rubble of the guesthouse named after her to try and salvage what she could.

The slender elderly woman, dressed in a salwar kameez and wearing slippers, rifled through the debris of plywood, brick and mortar, picking up pieces of her life as it were, stopping occasionally to tell those engaged in bringing down the floors to be careful. Narayani Devi had earlier said her son had lost his mental balance as he couldn’t see their guesthouse being demolished.

“He had spent a lot of money on the guest house. He borrowed money to expand it. He was spending money on lawyers’ fees... He was mentally upset for past 2-3 months and was on medication for this,” Ms. Devi said.

When her son was brought to the site under heavy police escort late afternoon, her eyes turned moist. “I still don’t think that he could have shot anyone,” she kept saying.

The accused’s children and wife restricted themselves inside a portion of the guest house where they live as demolition continued on Friday. Ms. Devi said that Thakur’s children were under acute stress and did not attend school for few days.