Minister of state for Town and Country Planning H N Saini ordered the arrest of Veer Singh, Jagat Ram and Bhagat Ram who failed to allow the demolition of a portion of their house to build a two-km long link road under Vikas Main Jan Sahyog scheme undertaken by the gram panchayat of Bhatian village. The road was promised to the villagers by the minister during campaigning for the last assembly elections.

The incident took place at Bhatian village, falling under the home constituency of the minister in Nalagarh sub-division when the minister along with about 40 supporters, Zila Parishad member Ram Saran and local panchayat pardhan Babu Singh went to the village at about 11 am and reportedly demanded that Veer Singh, Jagat Ram and Bhagat Ram vacate their house which fell within the surveyedtrack of the 2-km long link road.

The farmers however produced a stay order issued by the sub divisional magistrate, Nalagarh issued on August 28. The family had obtained the ownership rights to the land in 1986 after a 15-year long legal battle in the court of first class magistrate. A revision petition is pending in the court of SDM Nalagarh over some portion of the land. The SDM had granted a stay order on demolition of any structure over the land, constructed by the trio after 1986, till further order.

But surprisingly, the policemen instead of stopping the ministers' supporters, arrested the three farmers and their family members and took them to the Nalagarh police station. After this, the supporters of the minister in his presence, reportedly demolished the portion of the house and and a cowshed belonging to Veer Singh, Jagat Ram and Bhagat Ram. The minister allegedly ordered the police to arrest.

The minister was not available for comments.

Meanwhile, nearly hundreds of villagers on Mondayassembled outside the police station and demanded action against the minister and his supporters. Accompanying them was Shyam Lal, brother of the three farmers, who lodged a complaint with Nalagarh police alleging that some persons on the direction of the minister had demolished the house at Bhatian village. He had alleged that policemen without informing him, took away the family members. He has further demanded that police protection be provided to them.

When contacted, Dy S P Nalagarh, Rani Sachdeva, said that a minor clash had taken place at Bhatian village over the construction of a road. Veer Singh, Jagat Ram and Bhagat Ram were arrested on the direction of the SDM. She denied that any of their family members had been illegally detained. She also denied having any knowledge of the minister's involvement in the incident. She said that police has not received any complaint against the ministers and his supporters.

SDM K C Chaman could not be contacted for his comments.