Tension,fear,stalk Trilokpuri after doctor’s murder

Kashyap was stabbed in his clinic while examining a patient. The murderer,his face hidden in a monkey cap,managed to escape. The police say no one saw his face. And they have no confirmation that the murder is linked to the riots.

Kahyap,popularly called Dr Lamboo,had been a Congressman all his life and was accused in seven cases. The lower court acquitted him in six and sentenced him for one. He appealed in the High Court and after serving time for 11 months,was acquitted. Kashyap’s family says he had no enemy except the ones who alleged his involvement in the anti-Sikh riots. “It is the Sikhs who killed him. It was they who always accused him of killing people in 1984,” said his widow Bimlesh Kumari (55). “They chose the day the riots happened to kill my husband.”

Many do believe her. “He was a humble doctor who treated almost everyone in the area,” said Ram Babu (38) a shopkeeper. “This murder has only one obvious reason.”

A few lanes away,in a dark,humid room with garlanded pictures of young men,a teenage Sikh boy sat with his mother and grandmother.

“Everyone has been saying that the murderer was a Sikh even though no one has any proof. It could have been anyone,but we are getting hostile looks and words,” said the mother.

The family witnessed the ’84 riots but even as the houses of their relatives became vacant,they,encouraged by a few neighbours,decided to stay on. Now,the wounds have almost been forgotten,if not healed.

“We never talk about ’84 anymore,but in the past three days,we have seen suspicion and distrust again. I have seen one ’84,I can’t see another. I can’t see my grandson die like my sons,” said the grandmother,who has lost two sons to the riots. “We never utter the names of neighbours who we know were killing us. And when one of them is murdered by an unknown man,everyone gives us hostile looks.”

A few streets away,a thin man peeked out through the iron door before opening it. Ved Prakash (60),a plumber,is worried after Kashyap’s murder — though for different reasons.

He is one of the 88 men in Trilokpuri who still has cases against him. Prakash and his brother Om served eight years in 14 cases and are out on permanent bail. “I am afraid of going out now,” said Prakash. “I come back late from work and I could get killed.” The brothers have lost their government jobs. “What have we got?” he asked,“They got compensation. We lost everything we had and no one looks at our misery.”