According to the police, the murders were result of an ongoing rivalry between two familiesA man and his wife were shot dead in a village of Gohana in Haryana’s Sonipat district in the wee hours Saturday, four days after his brother was shot dead in an ongoing rivalry between two families, police said.
The victims have been identified as Hoshiyar Singh and his wife Nirmala. Four days ago Hoshiyar’s brother Balbir Singh was killed.
A few minutes after unidentified assailants killed the couple, Hoshiyar’s distant relative Surender Singh was also shot dead in his house in a nearby village.
The incidents took place in between 3.30 am and 4.00 am at Bhaiswal Kalan and Katwal villages of Gohana, about 200 kms from here.
According to the police, the murders were result of an ongoing rivalry between two families – one headed by Balbir Singh and another by Krishan of the same village. In the last two years, at least eight members of both the families have been brutally murdered.
Krishan and his aides have been accused of orchestrating and executing all these murders. The assailants were yet at large.
Soon after the incident, senior police officers and forensic experts reached both the villages and inspected the scenes of crime. Additional police personnel were deployed in and around the villages to avert any further untoward incident.
Bodies of the deceased were kept at Khanpur hospital for post mortem examination. Investigating police officers disclosed that while Hoshiyar Singh was shot dead at the terrace of his house, Nirmala was killed in her room at the ground floor.
According to the police, both Krishan and Balbir’s families developed a grudge against each other during 2017 sarpanch elections in their village.
“It all began with a heated argument during sarpanch elections. First, Krishan and his family members murdered Balbir’s younger son in 2017. On Balbir’s complaint, 13 persons including Krishan were booked on charges of murder and criminal conspiracy. They were also jailed. But Krishan was released on bail last year. To avenge his son’s killing, it is alleged that Balbir and his elder son killed three members of Krishan’s family and threw their bodies in a canal in Uttar Pradesh. Balbir’s elder son and his aides were accused of murder in a case registered by the police,” one of the police officers said.
DSP Hansraj, who is supervising the investigations in the killings of Balbir, Hoshiyar and Nirmala said, “At least 15 persons have been booked on charges of murder, criminal conspiracy and under various provisions of Arms Act. Four teams have been constituted to nab the assailants who were yet absconding”.
