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Nigohan farmer’s killing: 24-hr remand pays off, accused lead Lucknow police to key evidence
“Repeated interrogation of the accused had yielded no results, prompting investigators to approach the court for custody remand of Sujit Kumar Srivastava and Dilip Kumar Rawat, whom police describe as the key conspirators. The court granted a 24-hour remand on January 6, during which the accused were taken out of Lucknow district jail and questioned afresh,” said DCP South Nipun Agarwal.
A blue keypad mobile phone pulled from bushes near a highway drain has given Nigohan police their first breakthrough in the murder of city farmer Shiv Prakash alias Kabir, nearly two months after his half-burnt body was found in Unnao district.
The recovery came after police secured a rare 24-hour custody remand of two alleged masterminds in a case that has its roots in a multi-crore land dispute along the Lucknow-Raebareli highway.
“Repeated interrogation of the accused had yielded no results, prompting investigators to approach the court for custody remand of Sujit Kumar Srivastava and Dilip Kumar Rawat, whom police describe as the key conspirators. The court granted a 24-hour remand on January 6, during which the accused were taken out of Lucknow district jail and questioned afresh,” said DCP South Nipun Agarwal.
He added, “During interrogation, the accused led the police to bushes near a drain under a bridge on the Lucknow-Raebareli highway, close to the Vrindavan Restaurant area, where a blue keypad mobile phone allegedly used during the planning and execution of the murder was recovered, along with the back cover of another handset.”
ADCP South Vasanth Rallapalli said the recovered handset is now being examined for call records and location data to further strengthen the case. After the recovery and legal formalities, both accused were sent back to Lucknow district jail.
Kabir’s half-burnt body was recovered from the Bighapur area of Unnao district on November 16, 2025. Investigators later established that he was allegedly abducted a day earlier from Lalpur village in Nigohan, strangled inside a moving vehicle, and his body was transported to Unnao and set on fire to allegedly destroy evidence.
The murder, police said, was the outcome of a prolonged property dispute over a 44-biswa parcel of land valued in crores. While Kabir inherited his mother’s share through a will, the land was allegedly sold using a power of attorney, leading to a legal challenge.
Police believe the plot was allegedly hatched over several months. Sujit allegedly offered ₹1.5 lakh to Dilip Rawat to arrange the killing, who then allegedly recruited four local men. To allegedly evade surveillance, the accused used cheap feature phones, multiple SIM cards and CCTV-free village routes, police said.
