Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition (LoP) Jai Ram Thakur demanded an NIA probe into the ghastly murder of a 25-year-old youth in Salooni of Chamba district.

While addressing media persons here on Thursday, he called it a matter of grave concern that in Chamba district, a youth Manohar, who belonged to a Dalit community, was found murdered.

“Manohar had gone missing on June 6, but a few days later his shoe was found near the river and after that, the dead body was recovered. The body was found in a sack, cut into eight pieces from a nullah in the forest area,” he alleged.

“Such an incident is rare in our ‘Devbhoomi’ Himachal Pradesh. Now tension has erupted and it has become a matter of serious concern not only in the state, but also the country,” he claimed, adding that this is not an ordinary incident and not done by any ordinary person.

“The main accused in the incident is Musafir Mohammad, his wife Farida, and six others. It is learned that the murder weapon was a cutter used to cut wood. An attempt was also made to burn the dead body, but due to fear of the neighboring people, the dead body was put in a sack in a deserted place,” he charged.

“The accused involved in the crime is a powerful person in his community and has dubious antecedents. Some influential persons are also trying to suppress the investigations on the pretext of calling it a personal matter of two people,” he alleged.

“The state government has formed an SIT to investigate the incident, but our party strongly demands that it should be investigated by the NIA as there are many aspects, which will come out in it,” said Thakur.

“BJP State President Dr Rajeev Bindal and I myself will go to meet the families of the deceased tomorrow,” said Thakur.

Launching a scathing attack on Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, he sought an explanation for his statement issued at various public forums in the state that the Congress has defeated the BJP in Himachal Pradesh which is 97 per cent Hindu state.