Eight months on, 22-year-old murder accused held

A 22-year-old murder suspect wanted in Bihar was arrested in Mumbai after being on the run for eight months. He was the main shooter in the murder of a land broker in Patna. The suspect was found in a bar after bragging to a friend about the killing. He had been hiding in Uttarakhand and Delhi before coming to Mumbai.

Mumbai: A 22-year-old man wanted in a Bihar murder case, who was on the run for around eight months, was arrested on Saturday. According to the Sakinaka police, he was the main shooter in the murder of a land broker, Prem Kumar Paswan, who was shot dead in Patna in January this year.

Eight months on, 22-year-old murder accused held

The accused, Navin Kumar Priyakumar Ranjan, resident of Danapur in the Patna district of Bihar, came to Mumbai a few days ago and was residing in Andheri East. Ranjan is a school dropout and has a few criminal cases against him in Patna.

The Patna police had already arrested two accused -Vijay Kumar and Anuja Varma - within a month of the murder and had launched a hunt for the other suspects.

The police got a tip-off about a suspect wanted in a murder case from Bihar and has been hiding in Mumbai. Based on the input, a police team headed by police sub-inspector Suhas Kade visited a bar in Andheri-Ghatkopar Road, where Ranjan was drinking with his friend.

Under the influence, Ranjan told his friend that he had killed a person in Patna. Meanwhile, the police informer heard Ranjan say this and informed the police. After gathering more information, it appeared that he might be carrying a weapon, so the team went to verify and nabbed the accused. “We did not get weapons but confirmed that he was the main shooter in the Paswan murder,” Datta Nalawade, deputy commissioner of police, said.

The incident occurred in January this year when the deceased Paswan along with his associate Rahul Kumar was heading to Patna on a bike to meet his friend. Ranjan and the other accused fired multiple bullets at them. Paswan suffered a bullet injury and died in the hospital, while Rahul also sustained a bullet injury but survived, said a police officer.

During the investigation, police found that there was a land dispute in Patna, and the opposite party had given a contract to kill Paswan. Ranjan was the main shooter, and during the search, the police had recovered four country-made pistols from his residence. Ranjan absconded and was hiding in Uttarakhand, then he came to Delhi, and later, around 10 days ago, he came to Mumbai, Nalawade said.

The Bihar police were informed, and a police team came to Mumbai on Saturday evening, and Ranjan was handed over to them.