Shimla: Protesters seeking justice for the Kotkhai rape-murder victim, forest guard Hoshiyar Singh and Medh Ram, a property dealer who had been missing for the last three years, threatened to storm the Vidhan Sabha in the coming Monsoon session if the accused in all cases were not arrested.

Shimla: Protesters seeking justice for the Kotkhai rape-murder victim, forest guard Hoshiyar Singh and Medh Ram, a property dealer who had been missing for the last three years, threatened to storm the Vidhan Sabha in the coming Monsoon session if the accused in all cases were not arrested.

Staging a protest march from the Deputy Commissioner’s office to the state Secretariat, the protesters raised slogans demanding the arrest of the accused at the earliest.

They started their march from The Mall. Breaking police barricades at Chhota Shimla, they staged a dharna in front of the Secretariat, which was guarded by a heavy posse of police personnel and was supervised by Shimla Deputy Commissioner Rohan Chand Thakur and SP Soumya Sambasivan

Accompanied by the family members of the victims, the protesters sought justice for the Kotkhai rape-murder victim, forest guard Hoshiyar Singh, who was found hanging from a tree in Karsog forest area, and Medh Ram, a property dealer who had been missing for the last three years, and various other cases.

Convener of the Gudiya Nyay Manch Sharda Devi and victim’s sister urged the Chief Minister “not to shield” the real culprits and order the suspension of the DGP and SIT officials, “who tried to protect the real culprits”. Kundan Singh and Des Raj Sharma from the Hoshiyar Nyay Manch demanded a CBI probe into the alleged murder of the forest guard.

Kishan Kumar, a family member of Medh Ram, claimed that Ram was kidnapped and then killed by some influential persons and the police made no efforts to trace him even after more than three years.

Addressing the protesters, president of the Himachal Apple Growers Association Rakesh Singha alleged that the Congress government was protecting and patronising culprits and forest mafias in all three cases.

Former Shimla Mayor Sanjay Chauhan said people were angry and they would show the door to the elected MLAs as they had “failed” to give justice to the victims.