Criminals had planned to kill owner of Tractor Agency, killed his staff instead

Kumar Rajiv Nayan

Ara : A conspiracy hatched inside the Beur Central Jail, Patna, to kill the owner of the Raj Automobile Tractor Agency, a Mahendra Showroom on Zero mile under Udwantnagar police station in Bhojpur district, Prem Pankaj alias Lalan Ji, a BJP leader. But, the miscreants instead killed an employee of the Showroom and injured another on September 20, 2018, in broad daylight as the owner was not present there at that time.

Bhojpur SP Awakash Kumar said that Manish Singh alias Neeraj alias Golu alias Hero, son of Anil Singh of village Bindgawa under Koelwar police station in Bhojpur district was arrested along with a notorious criminal Botal Mahto and five others in December 2017 in connection with murder of a Scorpio driver Sourabh Kumar and police had seized fire arms from their possession. They were sent to Beur Jail at that time.

Manish Singh was later brought over to Ara jail as he was a named accused in an incident of firing at village Fuha under Barhara police station but he escaped from the police custody from Ara Court on August 24, 2018, when he was brought over there for production before the court.

The SP said that Manish Singh worked for Botal Mahto and both have links with some inmates of Ara jail too. He said that a conspiracy was hatched inside Beur Jail to kill the owner of the Raj Automobile Tractor Agency as well as son of Dr Jitendra Kumar. Manish Singh was in constant touch with Botal Mahto since September 1, 2018, the SP said and added that on September 20, 2018, morning, at the behest of Botal Mahto, two motorcycle borne criminals fired on Ankit Raj alias Aman,  son of Dr Jitendra Kumar, on Nala Road under Town police station, Ara, after asking his name though he had a narrow escape.

The two criminals then proceeded towards zero mile under Udwantnagar police station and parked their motorcycle outside the Raj Automobile Tractor Agency. One of them entered the shop and queried about the owner. Seeing Bipul Mishra sitting at the counter, he shot at and injured him. He also shot at and injured a salesman Saroj Yadav. Bipul Mishra succumbed to his injuries during treatment while Saroj Yadav is still struggling for life. The SP said that after firing, the miscreant threw his visiting card inside the shop saying convey to the owner that Hero had come. After committing crime, both escaped towards Jagdishpur.

The SP said that a team of the Forensic Science Laboratory collected samples and added that the miscreants had been identified through the CCTV footage. He said that a special police team has been formed to arrest Manish Singh and his aide. The SP added that raid was conducted in Ara jail after the incident but refrained to say more in this regard. When asked about reason behind the incident, the SP said that the reason will be ascertained after arrest of Manish Singh.

About a month ago, a youth was killed in front of Raj Automobiles Tractor Agency in a road accident and the mother of the deceased had blamed the owner of the Agency Lalan Ji alias Prem Pankaj saying that he had got her son killed. The deceased was said to be an agent of the agency.