Hisar. 23 August 2001. The month of August and the rainy season. It was o’clock at night outside. However, till now former MLA Relu Ram and his wife had not slept. The husband and wife were arguing and discussing something in their farm house. No one had any idea that this would be the last night of his life. Then on the same night Relu Ram’s daughter entered the house and what happened next was scary. One after the other, dead bodies of a total of eight people were lying in the house. It seemed as if rivers of blood were flowing on the floor. As soon as the news of the murder of eight people spread, the entire area was shocked.
Actually, this story is related to the murder of former MLA of Barwala, Hisar, Relu Ram and a total of eight people of his family. In this case, the High Court has now accepted the petition for the release of former MLA Relu Ram Punia’s son-in-law Sanjeev Kumar and daughter Sonia and due to this, this murder case has again come into discussion. Relu Ram’s daughter Sonia had a love marriage with Sanjeev. However, the family was against this marriage. Sonia was a judo player and she also met Sanjeev during training.
Why were 8 people including former MLA Relu Ram of Barwala, Hisar murdered?
Sonia, daughter of former MLA Relu Ram Punia, wanted a share in her father’s property. But he was not willing to give them the property. It was Sonia’s birthday on 23rd August and she was going from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh to Hisar with her husband. Meanwhile, by the time Sonia reached her father’s farmhouse in Litani village, it was around 12 o’clock in the night. When she reached home, she saw that her father and mother were arguing over property. Sonia saw that her father was completely against giving her a share in his property. What happened then, Sonia along with her husband planned to kill her father and the entire family. Sonia and Sanjeev, besides their father Relu Ram Punia (50), mother Krishna Devi (41), Sunil (23), daughter-in-law Shakuntala (20), grandson Lokesh (4) and two granddaughters Shivani (2) and Priyanka (14), brutally killed 45-day-old Preeti with rods. Sonia and Sanjeev spread eight plates in the house. However, she ran away from there with the car and thought that now she would end her own life also. But could not do this. Sonia then returned home and tried to commit suicide by drinking half the bottle of poison. But, she was not successful in her attempt. Later the police arrested both the husband and wife.
The case went on in the court for three years and he was sentenced to death.
Then the case continued for three years and in 2004, Hisar court sentenced Sanjeev and Sonia to death. Both of them approached the Supreme Court against the sentence but did not get relief and in 2007 the Supreme Court upheld the death sentence. Investigation by Hisar Police had revealed that the main reason for this massacre was the distribution of land and property. This entire massacre shook the entire state. Because now no such case has come to light in the state, in which eight people were killed simultaneously. Sonia wanted to open a judo academy with her husband and hence was asking for some property from her father.
Sonia and Sanjeev had planned to shoot first
Sonia and Sanjeev had earlier planned to shoot the entire family. According to the plan, on the pretext of Sonia’s birthday party, bullets will be fired amid the noise of firecrackers. However, then they realized that the noise of firecrackers might disturb their father and mother’s sleep. Therefore the murder was done with an iron rod.
Who was Relu Ram Punia, former MLA of Barwala, Hisar?
The story of former Hisar MLA Relu Ram is very interesting. He had to work hard to get on the path to success. Relu Ram’s childhood was spent in poverty and he used to graze people’s buffaloes to support his family. However, later he moved to Delhi in search of a job. Here he got the job of washing and cleaning trucks. Here, while working with a Seth, Relu Ram’s life got a new direction and he started the business of crude oil. From here Relu Ram’s life turned around and he made money on a large scale. With this money, he bought a large amount of land in Faridabad and Delhi, apart from mansions, and many shops. Please note that Relu Ram had married twice.
Relu Ram had contested the elections independently
According to the information, assembly elections were going to be held in Haryana in the year 1996. Meanwhile, Relu Ram decided to contest the elections. When he did not get ticket from any party, Relu Ram Punia announced to contest the elections from Barwala as an independent candidate. He got the election symbol of train in the election. It is said that in that election ‘Relu Ram’s train will run without water and without oil.’ The slogan went well. Relu Ram won this election and then he built a mansion on 2 acres of land in Hisar. It is said that cars used to go up to the second floor of this house.
First he was hanged, then the High Court changed the decision.
Hisar Court had sentenced both the culprits to death in this case, but in 2025, the High Court changed the death sentence to life imprisonment. However, the matter then reached the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court accepted the decision of the lower court and upheld the death sentence. On August 23, 2007, the review petition of both was rejected by the Supreme Court. The session judge fixed the date of hanging on 26 November 2007. But then Sonia and Sanjeev filed a mercy petition before the President. However, the mercy petition remained pending for many years and then on April 3, 2013, President Pranab Mukherjee rejected the mercy petition. However, due to delay in this mercy petition, in January 2014, the Supreme Court changed the death sentence of both of them to life imprisonment.
