A local court in Shimla has granted seven-day police custody of the two shooters who killed the director of Saraswati Paradise International Public School in Sanjauli on June 13.
The accused, Ashish Ahlawat, 22, a resident of Dujana village in Jhajjar district, Haryana, and Deepak, 25, a resident of Sunaria Khurd in Rohtak district, Haryana, were arrested by police from Rohtak, where they had fled after murdering Manisha Mittal.
They were brought to Shimla from Haryana and taken to the crime scene. After that, they were produced in a local court, which sent them on remand.
ASP Shimla, Abhishek Dhiman, said police will interrogate the accused to ascertain the exact motive behind the murder. During the remand, police will also question them about the identity of the mastermind who allegedly orchestrated the crime.
On June 13, the accused fired multiple rounds at Manisha Mittal with country-made pistols near the school gate, killing her on the spot. The accused, who had concealed their faces with masks, shot Mittal while she was returning to the school where she had been residing for the past few months with her teenage daughter. After committing the crime, the accused fled via link roads to evade police barricades and reached Haryana.
Meanwhile, police launched an investigation and constituted special teams to nab the accused. After examining crucial evidence, including CCTV footage and technical and digital data, police traced the accused and dispatched a team to arrest them. Police said both accused are professional gangsters and multiple cases have already been registered against them. It was also revealed that they had tampered with the number plate of their car and affixed an HP-10 series number to mislead police. They were also using virtual numbers for communication.
The postmortem report revealed that three bullets hit Mittal’s skull, of which one remained lodged inside. Over the past few years, Mittal was engaged in a dispute with her family members over the school and other properties in Haryana. Police are also interrogating Mittal’s brother for his suspected role in the murder, based on allegations levelled against him by Minakshi on multiple occasions.
