Patna: Call details records(CRDs) of one of the nine persons arrested in connection with the murder of Siwan journalist Rajdev Ranjan led the district police to Siwan central jail, where the national executive committee member of RJD Mohammad Shahabuddin, a former RJD MP, is impriosned. A team of Siwan district administration and police led by DM and SP raided the jail premises and conducted search into the wards of different prisoners. The Cell where former the MP is lodged was also searched, police said.
According to the reports reaching here from Siwan, police found six mobile sets and two knives during the search.
According to police, the search was conducted following analysis of the call records of the mobile of one of the arrested persons which showed 36 calls were made from the jail premises to him. These calls were made, according to the police, to the mobile when its location was found at the place of occurrence of murder of the journalist. Later, the mobile call location shifted to neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. Officials also seized over 50 mobiles from the visitors who had come to meet the former MP. They are being questioned.
Family memebrs of slain journalist had been alleging the involvement of Shahabuddin in the murder and had claimed instructions had come from the jail. One of the shooters arrested by the police two days after the murder was earlier involved in the murder of Srikant Bharti, personal assistant of Siwan BJP MP Omprakash yadav in 2014. He was recently released on bail. Siwan journalist had written some adverse pieces relating to the former MP. Bharti was gunned down in the heart of the town ,near the same place where the journalist was killed.
The state government has constituted a special investigation team to investigate the case .Members of the team were also present when Siwan jail was raided early Wednesday morning. The state government has written to the union government seeking probe by the CBI into the murder of the scribe.A joint secretary of home(special) wrote a letter to the joint secretary of department of personal and training , Government of India, on Monday requesting him to transfer the case to the CBI under the Delhi special police establishment Act. A copy of the recommendation was sent to DIG, CBI, at Patna the same day.