Sonepat lecturer shot dead: Three arrested, prime accused still absconding

Three persons were arrested late Tuesday over the killing of English lecturer Rajesh Malik by a student at a government college in Haryana, even as the prime accused in the case is still absconding 24 hours after the crime.

The 40-year-old professor was shot at four times in front of his 14-year-old daughter on Tuesday morning by a student, identified as Jagmal Singh, at Shaheed Dalbir Singh College in Sonepat.

“We have made three arrests so far. Two of those arrested— Amit and Aakash— are Jagmal’s friends who kept vigil when he committed the murder and the third accused, Dinesh Singh, is Jagmal’s uncle whose licensed revolver was used in the crime. Jagmal is on the run,” said Wazir Singh, the station house officer (SHO) of Kharkhoda police station.

The police also booked assistant professor Yogesh Bajawan on charges of criminal conspiracy, but maintain her role in the crime is not yet clear.

“Till now we cannot confirm her role. Further interrogation will reveal more,” the SHO said.

Some college staff said Bajawan was close to the accused student, and could have instigated him to kill Malik, against whom she had filed a “false” harassment complaint some time ago.

The police said the accused committed the murder because Malik had scolded him for harassing a girl some days ago.

But professors said this was a routine affair. “It’s a co-ed college in a village. Scolding boys for eve-teasing girls is regular affair. We have, in fact, rusticated a couple of students in the past for harassing girl students. This incident has come as a shocker for us,” principal Ravi Prakash Arya said.

Arya remembers Malik as an extremely hard working teacher who would take extra classes and deliver 100% results. “I was highly impressed by him. It is not easy to teach English to village students, but he had been doing his job very well,” he said.

Malik, who had been teaching at the college for the past two-and-a-half years, even got the best teacher award at the college’s annual function last year.

His students say he was friendly and never insisted on being addressed as ‘sir’. “We addressed him as ‘bhaisahab’ (elder brother) because he took care of everyone,” said Naveen, one of Malik’s students.

The college professors say Jagmal was unruly. “His father is a rich zamindar (land lord) so he didn’t care about studies,” a professor said, seeking anonymity.