In a first, police say minors sneaked out of Bihar remand home, shot gangster

This is for the first time in the annals of Bihar crime that two inmates of a remand home, set up to house juvenile delinquents, have been found to have sneaked out of its premises to commit murder.

PATNA The arrest of a minor remand home inmate, in connection with the sensational murder of jailed gangster Bablu Dubey, during an appearance in the Bettiah (West Champaran) civil court, on May 11, has given an unprecedented twist to the widely-reported case.

Two of the suspects in the sensational murder of gangster Bablu Dubey, in a Bettiah (Bihar) court on May 11.(HT file photo)

Police investigations have revealed that the murder was committed by two inmates of a remand home at East Champaran district headquarters town of Motihari, about 145 km north-west of state capital, Patna. Officials said this was the first incident of its kind, in the annals of crime in Bihar.

“The two boys sneaked out of the Motihari remand home, travelled to the Bettiah civil court, about 45 km away and shot Dubey dead, before returning to their lodging”, said an official familiar with the ongoing police probe into the case.

.However, fearing threat to their lives from their fellow inmates, the young killers again left the remand home. It was while they were on the run that one of the two alleged killers was arrested by the police and their role in the murder was revealed.

Officials claimed the two remand home inmates were hired for the job by by Bablu’s rivals, namely, Rahul Singh, Vikash Singh and Chhotai Singh, all currently lodged in the Motihari central jail.

Apart from the remand home inmate, who is shown in the official records as a minor, the police have so far arrested Vijay Yadav and Niraj Yadav, residents of Parvatia Tola at the Muffasil police station, in connection with the May 11 incident.

Those on the run, include the second remand home inmate and others wanted in connection with the case, namely, Kunal Singh, Manish Singh, Sanjay Singh and Cigrate Ripusudan. 

“How and with whose help the minor boys managed to sneak out of the remand home is a matter of further investigation”, said West Champaran superintendent of police (SP) Vinay Kumar. 

The SP said the arrested boy himself confessed to his role in the crime during interrogation. “We are also ascertaining whether he is really a minor who can be put in a remand home. For this, his medical examination is being conducted”, he added. 

The SP told HT the criminals earlier planned to target Dubey on May 5 but things did not work out as planned. Finally, on May 11, they reached Bettiah around 6 am and waited at a lodge owned by Bhikhari Yadav, relative of Vijay and Niraj, before striking at Dubey. 

The SP further stated that the police had recovered a smart phone from the spot at which they had found one of the inmates. The remand home inmates’ involvement in the murder of Bablu Dubey was also confirmed by CCTV footage of the incident, he stated. 

Bablu was named accused in more than 24 cases of murder, kidnapping and loot under different police stations in West Champaran, East Champaran and Gopalganj districts, all in north Bihar. He was also said to be involved in the infamous kidnapping case of a prominent Nepalese businessman, Suresh Kedia, in May 2016.