A village head (sarpanch) was shot dead by unidentified assailants on Friday in Haryana’s Rohtak district, said the police.
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Police said 75-year-old Balkrishan, head of Chidi in Rohtak, was killed on Thursday night, after motorcycle-borne assailants shot him inside his house.
“At least two unidentified assailants who visited his [Balkrishan’s] house opened fire at him. The sarpanch was taken to PGIMS Hospital in Rohtak, where he was declared brought dead,” Superintendent of Police Rahul Sharma told The Hindu .
“We have a few leads that point to the assailants being from the same village. So far, no one has been arrested but we hopeful of making early arrests,” he said.
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‘Complete breakdown’
Congress, the chief Opposition party, hit out at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) government. Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the incident had once again exposed the “complete breakdown of law and order in Haryana under the BJP-JJP government”.
Mr. Hooda said the situation in the State had reached a point where criminals had “lost all fear of the law” and were targeting not only common citizens but also police personnel and public representatives. “Today, people are neither safe outside the house nor in their homes. In Chidi village, criminals entered the house of sarpanch Balkrishan Valmiki and killed him. This is very unfortunate and tells us how brazen the criminals have become,” he said.
Mr. Hooda said the Opposition had repeatedly warned the government about the poor law and order situation in the State but the government “seemed to be in deep slumber”. “There have been two murders in Rohtak alone within 24 hours. Apart from the sarpanch in Chidi village, a young man was also killed in Gizhi village. The figures released for 2018 by the National Crime Record Bureau show that four murders, one gang rape and 14 kidnapping cases are reported daily in Haryana,” he added.