Tradesmen in Hisar demand action from the police about threats of extortion

In Sector 21 in Hisar town, activists from the Haryana Pradesh Vyapar Mandal staged a dharna next to the pharmacy where two attackers on motorcycles had opened fire and demanded Rs 20 lakh.

On April 4, the association gave the police a two-day ultimatum to apprehend the accused, who was responsible for the crime. Bajrang Das Garg, the association’s state president, led the merchants and store owners, who staged a protest over what they saw as police passivity in the case. According to Garg, there is a great deal of animosity in their group across the state because of the rise in crimes committed against them.

Garg said that the culprits, who had demanded Rs 20 lakh from Sachin Bansal, the proprietor of a medical business, on April 2 had eluded police capture. Outside the pharmacy, one of the two suspects opened fire and demanded Rs 20 lakh in cash on a handwritten piece of paper.

He said that the police had failed to apprehend the culprits in a recent incident involving the breaking down of a mobile shop’s shutter, during which mobile phones and cash valued at Rs 70 lakh were taken by the crooks.

“The Vyapar Mandal Haryana will decide to call a bandh and take to the streets to register its protest if the government does not take steps to curb crime,” he said. The dharna was also attended by a number of opposition party leaders and businessmen.