: Thirty-three days after the murder of a Sitapur-based journalist on March 8, a priest and two of his accomplices were arrested for the crime on Thursday, the police said. Through these accomplices, the priest had hired two professional killers to execute the crime, the police further said, adding that the killers are still at large.
Homosexual relations and other illegal activities of the priest and the fear that he (the priest) would be exposed led to the murder of Hindi daily journalist Raghvendra Bajpai, 36, in Sitapur’s Maholi area, Sitapur superintendent of police (SP) Chakresh Mishra confirmed in a press conference in Sitapur on Thursday.
Two motorcycle-borne assailants had pumped four bullets into Bajpai after intercepting his bike near Hempur crossing on Lucknow-Delhi highway. The incident took place when the journalist was on way from his house in Maholi to the local tehsil at around 3.15 pm on March 8.
The SP said the three people arrested were identified as Vikash Rathore alias Vikas Mishra, the priest, and his two alleged accomplices Nirmal Singh and Ahmad Gazi.
Vikash Rathore alias Vikas Mishra was involved in homosexual relations with several people and other illegal activities while working as the second priest at a prominent temple for the past five years, the SP said. Nirmal Singh and Ahmad Gazi were roped in by the priest to hire two professional killers, he added.
{{/usCountry}}Vikash Rathore alias Vikas Mishra was involved in homosexual relations with several people and other illegal activities while working as the second priest at a prominent temple for the past five years, the SP said. Nirmal Singh and Ahmad Gazi were roped in by the priest to hire two professional killers, he added.
{{/usCountry}}He said the two contract killers, who are brothers and resident of Sitapur, have been been identified but they are still at large.
Police teams have been deployed to trace the duo who disappeared from their house, the SP said.
“It was a tough case to crack as many as 15 different disputes related to his professional and personal activities surfaced during the marathon probe of around 33 days. Finally, the police team zeroed in on the priest, who despite being familiar with the journalist for the past six months, did not turn up after his death and denied familiarity with the journalist,” the SP said. “The priest was taken into custody when it was discovered that he was living with the changed name of Vikas Mishra at the temple for the past five years. His original name was Vikas Rathore and (he) had a tainted background,” the police officer added.
The SP said the priest confessed to being behind the conspiracy in the journalist’s murder as he feared that he (the journalist) will expose his (the priest’s) homosexual relations with different people.
He said the journalist had witnessed him indulging in homosexual relations with a minor boy inside the temple premises and recorded the act on his mobile phone, giving the priest the motive to eliminate Raghvendra Bajpai.
“The priest knew that the police would not be able to book him in the case till they managed to connect all the missing links in the journalist’s killing. He revealed only selective information following which the police had to wait for so many days. And finally, the mystery behind the case was solved when the names of two other arrested persons, Nirmal Singh and Ahmad Gazi, surfaced in the investigation,” he said.
He said the arrest of the two other accused revealed that the priest gave them ₹4 lakh to hire contract killers. They, in turn, hired two brothers to execute the killing for ₹3 lakh and kept ₹1 lakh for themselves as “commission”, the police officer added.
The SP said the assailants and the priest initially planned to kill Bajpai by calling him to the temple but gradually realised doing so would put them under suspicion. The idea to kill him at the place of worship was dropped even when the journalist visited the temple on the morning of murder, he said. The assailants kept following the journalist after he left the temple. Later, they waited for him to emerge from his house and targeted him when he was on his way to Maholi tehsil in the afternoon, the officer said.
33 days of marathon investigation
12 different police teams working on the case
6800 suspicious mobiles phones scanned to zero in on the suspects
150 CCTV cameras scanned to get clues about the assailants
15 different disputes surfaced while probing the motive for the murder