Car used by shooters in hotelier murder seized; raids in Bihar-Bengal-Odisha

Amid unconfirmed reports of a shooter’s arrest in Jamshedpur hotelier Nikhar Sablok murder, the red hatchback car used by the assailants to flee after the shooting was seized from Mesra in Ranchi, while police teams are conducting raids in Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha for the two suspected shooters seen in the CCTV footage from the 10th Milestone Resort where Nikhar was shot dead on August 24, people close to the matter said on Friday

Amid unconfirmed reports of a shooter’s arrest in Jamshedpur hotelier Nikhar Sablok murder, the red hatchback car used by the assailants to flee after the shooting was seized from Mesra in Ranchi, while police teams are conducting raids in Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha for the two suspected shooters seen in the CCTV footage from the 10th Milestone Resort where Nikhar was shot dead on August 24, people close to the matter said on Friday.

“The two suspected shooters were seen in the CCTV footage but their exact identities are yet to be conclusively established. Raids are, however, being carried out in several states by different teams of the SIT. The red coloured hatchback without any numberplate used by the shooters to flee has been seized. This car was last seen at the Bundu toll plaza before being abandoned in Mesra locality of Ranchi,” a senior police officer said, not willing to be quoted.

A senior police officer in the 18-member SIT said they were expecting a breakthrough in a day or two.

“The investigation is ongoing in the right direction and all the crucial leads are being followed. Over 50 persons have been interrogated, CCTV footage in and around the resort and several toll plazas have been examined. The shooters first moved towards Jamshedpur and then shifted to a red car on way to Chandil,” the officer said.

The police suspect the shooters to be professional killers from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh or West Bengal, given the precision and cool execution of the entire operation.

“They had been recceing Nikhar’s residence in Vijaya Heritage Residential Complex in Kadma and his movements and activities throughout the day and night for over a week. They first planned to kill him near his house but changed after seeing him visiting 10th Milestone Resort daily for the past 3-4 days at almost identical times. They ordered snacks and waited inside the resort, on the next table of Nikhar Sablok during his meeting with Sukhlal Pahariya, Congress leader Manman Singh, contractor Balkar Singh and Gurucharan Karmakar etc. Almost all the bullets were on target and there was no sign of haste or hurry. They calmly walked out and fled on a motorcycle, knowing well none would try to stop them or attempt to save their target,” another SIT member said.

Local leaders like Congress leader Manman Singh, INTUC block president Gurucharan Karmakar, Asim Janjati Samaj (AJS) leader Sukhlal Pahariya, Jantal Baba worship place’s Bhushan Pahariya and Pardih resident Jeevan Singh Deo too have also been questioned by the police in past 3-4 days.

“Nikhar Sablok was also running the 10th Milestone apart from his Hotel Crystal in Jamshedpur. It belonged to a Jamshedpur businessman Taneja earlier. He was also trying to build boundary wall around the 3.5 acre tribal land behind the 10th Milestone Resort and wanted to award the constitution contract to Balkar Singh. The ₹9 crore plot in posh Circuit House area of Jamshedpur was also a bone of contention with Nikhar helping owner Bhupendra Singh against Ashok Singh Raghav, who takes care of jailed gangster Akhilesh Singh and his slain mentor Vikram Sharma,” officials said.

“Ashok Singh Raghav, Mohd Kalam, notorious history sheeter Ravi Das and Dara from Sonari locality are being interrogated while the woman who was also seen in the CCTV footage at the time of the incident in the resort, is also being questioned. She had been visiting the resort daily for the past 3-4 days before Nikhar Sablok was murdered,” a police officer said.