Hotel manager killed after heated argument in Himachal Pradesh's Chamba, 2 cops held amid public outrage

SHIMLA: Two police personnel have been arrested for allegedly killing a manager of a hotel and injuring a staff member on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday at Banikhet in Chamba district.
Angry residents held a demonstration against the police department on Wednesday.
Constables Anoop and Amit were arrested hours after they allegedly pushed 46-year -old hotel manager Rajender Malhotra, a resident of Khajjiar, and his colleague Sachin from the edge of the hotel’s parking lot wall.
A case has been registered against the accused constables. They have also been placed under suspension.
As per reports, three policemen in uniform entered Nature Valley hotel in Dalhousie after finishing their duty around 1.30 am on Wednesday.

At the hotel, the policemen had an argument with Sachin and when manager Rajender Malhotra tried to intervene, Anoop and Amit allegedly pushed them off the parking lot wall. While Malhotra lost his life, Sachin suffered injuries after falling around 20 feet to the ground. Hotel owner Ajay said: “The policemen left the hotel saying we killed and ransacked your place. We have all the CCTV footage as evidence of what the duo did.”
Irked by the incident, hundreds of local residents protested against the police department at Banikhet and blocked traffic for more than three hours. Raising slogans against the Chamba police, the residents demanded action against the accused policemen. Abhishek Yadav, superintendent of police, Chamba, who reached the protest site to pacify the angry residents, said a departmental inquiry had also been initiated against the constables.
“We arrested the policemen and charged them with murder and other related offences. A special investigation team was also set up to probe the incident,” said Yadav.