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Hanumangarh Central Co-op bank chief gave Rs 25 lakh to kill councillor Harveer Saharan to avenge a slap

Rawatsar municipality councillor had slapped chairman of the bank in 2015 in full public view

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File photo of Harveer Saharan being taken to hospital
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The act of slapping a high-profile man about three years ago proved costly for the councillor of Rawatsar municipality in Hanumangarh district, Harveer Saharan. Harveer  was shot dead on Monday outside SDM’s office. 

According to the police, the planning for the revenge was hatched three years ago when in 2015, Independent councillor, Saharan, slapped a local, who had been agitating against the municpality’s decision to take possession of some land in Rawatsar municipal area. The man whom Saharan slapped was none other than Mahendra Singh Poonia, Chairman of Hanumangarh Central Cooperative Bank. Three years later, Poonia paid a hefty amount of Rs 25 lakh to get rid of Saharan and thus avenge his insult, said sources.

The Hanumangarh police successfully cracked the murder case and arrested four more men involved in the crime taking the total arrest to five.“Teams were formed in this case immediately and since the accused was named in the FIR, we initiated a search. A day after the murder, a man identified as Ramniwas Mehla was arrested for killing Saharan,” said Dinesh MN, Inspector General, Bikaner Range.

The police quickly learnt about the involvement of other men in the crime. “Since Mehla’s arrest, we were able to crack the case and arrest four more men identified as Mahendra Singh Poonia, 45, chairman of Hanumangarh Central Cooperative Bank, Amandeep, 30, Ramesh Kumar, 30 and Ashok Kumar, 24,” the IG informed.

 Interestinhgly, it was a tussle of ego that led to the murder. “In 2015, Harveer Saharan’s wife, Neelam Saharan, became the chairman of Rawatsar Municipality after which Harveer got some signages put up on plots that were in possession of Ramniwas Mehla, Ramchandra and others. Ramniwas and others had contacted Mahendra Poonia and agitated against the move by the minicipality. They formed Rawatsar Bachao Sangharsh Samiti and staged a sit-in while also observing a bandh in Rawatsar,” police said. 

“During this time, Harveer and Mahendra got into a spat and at one point Harveer slapped Mahendra in front of a huge gathering of locals.”

Being slapped in front of people from the area hurt Mahendra’s sentiments and since then Harveer became his sworn enemy and animocity between the two started brewing. 

“Poonia then planned to remove Harveer and colluded with the other accused and got Harveer killed,” the IG said. 

Interestingly, sources reveal that the men had been looking to kill Harveer since after the incident but their efforts never bore fruit. “They wanted to kill him, about which they were clear since the day Poonia was slapped. However their efforts were not fruitful and a few months back Harveer was arrested in a murded case and was lodged behind bars. The accused once again initiated efforts to kill Harveer around 20 days ago, after he came out on bail. 
Though the contract deal was made for Rs 20 lakh, an amount of Rs 5.40 lakh were handed before the murder while the remaining amount was to be handed after the murder,” cops said.

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