Pre-murder location of HP MLA’s phone tracked to Baddi, Panchkula

Even as he continues to evade joining investigations into the murder case of a Hoshiarpur girl, newly elected Himachal Pradesh MLA Ram Kumar Chaudhary may find himself in more trouble with the police managing to track the location of one of his phones to Sector 21 in the days leading to the murder. Sector 21 is the place where 24-year-old Jyoti Rani was found dead on November 21.

Chaudhary, who took out a victory procession in Baddi after winning the polls from the Doon constituency, was conspicuous by his absence at the meeting of the Congress Legislature Party held in Shimla on Saturday. Despite having secured an arrest warrant from a local court, the Panchkula police has not been able to nab Chaudhary so far.

Haryana police officers said the phone number tracked to Sector 21 had also been traced to Baddi. "Calls were made from the same number from Sector 21, Panchkula, before the murder of Jyoti Rani,'' said a police officer.

Director General of Police, Himachal, I D Bhandari said that the Baddi police was helping the Haryana police in the matter. "We are doing our best, but he has not been arrested as of now," the DGP added.

Police sources said the MLA was using three cell phones. While two had been switched off, the call details of the third number had been tracked to Sector 21 in Panchkula. This number was subsequently used by the legislator in Punjab and Himachal as well. "It is the third number which has been traced to Baddi," sources said.

Police officers who didn't want to be quoted said that the girl was also using three phones and had switched off one of them at Zirakpur, an area closer to Sector 21, on the day of the murder. "The girl was also using three cell phones and none of them has been recovered so far," said a police officer.

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