Solan: The counsel of a local lawyer, who allegedly stabbed a 24-year-old fighter pilot to death in a road rage incident near Kasauli town of Himachal Pradesh over the weekend, today claimed that his client is "innocent".

The lawyer, Hari Dass Tanwar, was remanded to three days in police custody after Kasauli police booked him for the death of Flight Lieutenent Anubhav Rao, Solan Additional Superintendent of Police R S Rana said.

The IAF described Rao's death as "unfortunate and untimely" and said it was cooperating with the police to bring the accused to justice.

Rao, who hailed from Hisar in Haryana and was posted at Ambala air force base, was on a weekend visit to Kasauli with two of his friends on Friday evening when they got into an argument with Tanwar at Garkhal on the town's outskirts over the parking of their cars, Kasauli police said.

The altercation soon got out of hand and Tanwar, who was going to his village in Kot Beja nearby along with his wife and children, allegedly pulled out a "sharp weapon" and stabbed the young pilot, they said.

Rao was taken to Military Hospital, Kasauli and later referred to Western Command Hospital at Chandi Mandir near Chandigarh, but succumbed to injuries on the way.

Tanwar was produced in a court in Kasauli and the police given his remand, but his counsel Shashi Pandit alleged that "he is being falsely implicated" in the case and was innocent.

This was "proved by the contents of FIR" lodged in the case, he claimed.
Source : PTI