After failing to meet the deadline set for the State police by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat to solve the armed burglary and murder reported from Nakraunda in Balawala, now the police are going all out to solve the case before the deadline set by Mahapanchayat members expires on Monday.
State Director General of Police BS Sidhu claimed they would solve the armed burglary case by Monday. However, he did not disclose what kind of clues police have got so far. He just reiterated the district police are using all resources to crack the case at the earliest.
Following Mahapanchayat's call for stir at the police headquarters on Monday, police seem to have taken it as a prestige issue. All the senior police officers keep monitoring the case to get the breakthrough, but no one seems to be too sure whether the criminals are the same whom they had recently grilled in Uttar Pradesh.
SSP Ajay Ratula who is facing criticism from all sections of society over the case, said on Saturday that he is out of the district. Sources said that in coordination with Uttar Pradesh police, Uttarakhand police have arrested some suspects in Uttar Pradesh.
Angered over police's poor functioning and delay in solving the armed burglary that resulted in the murder of a 23-year old person and injury to four persons from the same family in Balawala area, the Mahapanchayat was convened on Wednesday and around 80 people from neighbouring villages, including five gram pradhans, block panchayat members and local public representatives, had participated. During the Mahapanchayat, members had set a three-day deadline for police to solve the murder case.
The members had decided to review things on Sunday and if the situation remains unchanged they would go for the gherao of the police headquarters on Monday.
Moreover, dozens of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal activists also protested and expressed anguish over increasing crime cases in the State Capital. The members demanded immediate steps to stop crimes in the district. Dozens of Communist Party of India (Marxist) activists led by Shiv Prasad Devli protested outside the office of Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) on Friday and shouted slogans against police administration for allegedly failing to check crimes in the State Capital on Friday. BJP members had criticised the State Government for failing to check crimes being reported daily in the Capital and other districts in the State. They had also supported the Mahapanchayat’s stir slated to begin on Monday.