Six of sarpanch's family gunned down, set afire
From Vimal Sumbly
Tribune News Service

HISAR, March 18 — In one of the worst, macabre acts six members of the family of a sarpanch including two women, were done to death and subsequently set on fire on night of March 17 in Matrasham village about 20 km from here.

The sarpanch, Ishwar Singh Nain, is reportedly missing and the police had no clue about his whereabouts till late in the afternoon. The police hoped he was alive.

According to the FIR registered with the police, six members of the family of Ishwar Singh were murdered. They were identified as Prahlad Singh, Ishwar Singh's father his two sons Satpal and Krishen, his wife Krishna and sister-in-law Roshni and her son Naveen. All the bodies, except that of Krishna were charred beyond recognition.

Since the incident occurred in the dead of night there were no eyewitnesses. However, Om Prakash, brother of Prahlad Singh, told reporters that he heard gunshots, as his house is adjacent to Ishwar's house. When he tried to enter the house, he was hit by a brick, that was thrown from rooftop. He also saw smoke rising from two rooms of Ishwar's house.

Om Prakash was too shocked to give the details. He was also incoherent. He said, he could not recognise anyone as it was dark and the lights had been switched off. He then went to contact Shamsher Singh, younger brother of Ishwar. When he returned, the assailants had reportedly fled the scene. However they saw Ishwar's another brother Chander, who was living with Ishwar outside the house, in an injured condition. Ishwar was not found there. Subsequently, Om Prakash rang up the police at about 3.30 in the morning. The police reached the spot at 4.15.

The entire village was shocked and a pall of gloom had descended on it. Nobody was prepared to talk about the incident. However, the common refrain was that the family did not have any history of enmity with anyone; not to the extent that almost entire family would be wiped out.

The Superintendent of Police, Mr Manjeet Singh Ahalawat said, the primary motive behind this incident appeared to be personal animosity. However, he did not disclose as whether they had identified anyone or not. He said, some people had been detained for questioning. Ishwar Singh was reportedly involved in some legal disputes with some persons. No possibility could be ruled out, he added.

Ishwar's brother Chander, who is admitted to a local nursing home had reportedly identified some people. However, he was not prepared to disclose their names to the Press.

It was terrible scene in the house where the incident took place. The killers after committing the crime had sprinkled petrol over the bodies and set them on fire. According to Chander, they even tried to set him on fire also, but he managed to escape although he was shot in the chest and the leg. He tried hard to save his wife Roshni, who was not dead when she was set on fire. But when the flames engulfed her completely, she set herself free from Chander, so that he was saved. "At least try to save yourself", Chander recalled her wife crying. And that was her last cry.

There were blood spots spread across the floor and also pieces of broken bangles and bracelets. The name of Ishwar was written at four places with blood. This was probably done to confuse the police, so that Ishwar's involvement was suspected.

Even about 10 hours of the incident, smoke was still coming out of the charred bodies. The smell of burning flesh was very strong.

Experts from the Forensic Sciences Laboratory, Karnal, arrived here to examine the bodies. A team of doctors went from here to conduct the post-mortem of the bodies in the village itself.

Ishwar Singh's family owned hundreds of acres of land in the village. He or his father have remained as sarpanch since the introduction of panchayati raj. The family was respected in the village. The villagers said Ishwar Singh was soft-spoken and mild-mannered and they were shocked to learn about the incident in the morning. The entire menfolk and children had gathered in front of the house, while the women were mourning inside their own houses. Senior officials of the district administration, including the Deputy Commissioner, the SP and the SDM, went to the spot to supervise the investigation.