Lawyer’s husband among 3 booked for double murder

Our Correspondent
Hoshiarpur, November 23

Days after city’s famous lawyer Bhagwant Kishore Gupta and his assistant advocate Sia Khullar were burnt alive, after their car “caught fire” on Diwali night, the case took a new turn today. The Model Town police have booked three suspects, including the husband of the female lawyer, and a case has been registered against them for conspiring to burn the bodies after killing them.

The allegation

Sumanender Gupta, son of city’s famous lawyer Bhagwant Kishore Gupta, alleged that the husband of Advocate Sia Khullar, Ashish Kushwaha, along with his two companions, Sunil Kumar and Rahul Kumar, alias Kapil, a resident of Manglaur, village in Bulandshahr (UP), killed Bhagwant and his assistant Sia, put the bodies in their car, took it to the Puriharan bypass and set it on fire. Prima facie, it appeared to be an accident and the police even recorded proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC immediately after the incident.

Karnail Singh, SHO in-charge of the Model Town police station, said, in a complaint lodged with the police, Sumanender Gupta, deceased Bhagwant Kishore Gupta’s son, alleged that the death of his father Advocate Bhagwant Kishore Gupta and his assistant Advocate Siya Khullar on the night of November 14 was a well- planned murder and that the car had not caught fire itself, but was set afire after killing both of them.

Citing a deep controversy, he said, the husband of Advocate Sia Khullar, Ashish Kushwaha, along with his two companions, Sunil Kumar and Rahul Kumar, alias Kapil, a resident of Manglaur, village in Bulandshahr (UP), killed his father Bhagwant and his assistant Sia, put the bodies in their car, took it to the Puriharan bypass and set it on fire. Prima facie, it appeared to be an accident and the police had even recorded proceedings under Section 174 of the CrPC immediately after the incident.

On the basis of a complaint lodged by deceased’s son, a case has been registered against the three accused under Sections 302, 201, 120B of the IPC. The investigating officer said an investigation would be conducted by arresting the accused at the earliest. After the incident, the police had approached the husband of deceased Sia Khullar to join the investigation.When he started avoiding the investigation process, this further sparked suspicion.

The police have sent samples from the car to lab in Mohali for forensic examination to ascertain whether the car caught fire itself or was set on fire by spraying a chemical or petrol on it. The police are also verifying the Closed circuit television (CCTV) footage.

As per the statements of Sia’s husband Ashish, he was also in the same car with his wife Sia and Advocate Bhagwant Kishore Gupta, but he later left for Noida in a separate car while both of them left for the Purheeran bypass on the night of Diwali.