Chamba murder case: Himachal govt busts illegal land grabbing nexus of accused

A team of Himachal Pradesh Forest Department officials accompanied by the police force busted the land-grabbing nexus run by the accused in the murder case of Manohar Lal, whose chopped body parts were recovered from a drain in Himachal Pradesh's Chamba district on June 9. It comes after the Republic Media Network launched an investigation into the Manohar Lal murder case and exposed the land-grabbing nexus being operated by the family of the accused.

The officials have uprooted the fences around the forest and farming land installed by the family of the accused in a bid to illegally occupy the space. It was verified that the land belongs to the government and local villagers, and not to the family of the accused. 

Republic exposes land-grabbing nexus

Republic Media Network team at 8:30 am on Saturday (June 17) began their investigation into the Manohar Lal murder case and reached two locations- the place where the victim was murdered and the place where his body was dumped. Thereafter, the Republic team went to the residence of the accused and met several local villagers in the nearby areas who claimed that the accused had illegally grabbed their and the forest department's land. 

"We have a small piece of land in the area but the accused family never allowed them to visit that land for crop cultivation," a villager said. She claimed that the accused's family forcefully occupied the land of the forest department and of the villagers staying in nearby areas.

Manohar Lal murder case

Three persons had been arrested on the charges of murder, according to Chamba SP Abhishek Yadav. The dead body of the 25-year-old Manohar was recovered on June 9 near the forest area in Salooni. Initial investigation into the case revealed that the body of the deceased was dumped in a nullah in the forest area.

According to the complaint filed by the family of the deceased, Manohar was in a relationship with a girl. The family of the accused was not happy with the relationship. SP Yadav said that the deceased Manohar was caught by the family members of the girl on June 9 with her which led to a scuffle. Manohar died in the scuffle and the accused disposed of the body of Manohar in a nullah.