Bihar mechanic’s murder was hatched from Burdwan jail to ‘settle scores’: Probe

PATNA: The investigation into the murder of 68-year-old Mahendra Bind, who was killed to settle scores last month, has revealed that the murder conspiracy was hatched inside West Bengal’s Burdwan jail

PATNA: The investigation into the murder of 68-year-old Mahendra Bind, who was killed to settle scores last month, has revealed that the murder conspiracy was hatched inside West Bengal’s Burdwan jail.

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According to the probe, jailed gangster Ranjit Bind (currently lodged in Burdwan prison) hired a goon to eliminate an elderly person to frame his rivals. Incidently, the deceased’s son Ajeet is also lodged in a Bihar jail in connection with a murder case.

Mahendra, a handpump mechanic, was shot dead on February 21 in Khagaur village that comes under the jurisdiction of Kiul police station in Bihar’s Lakhisarai district. The police lodged an FIR against five persons, including four identified as Ravikant Yadav, Manikant Yadav, Chhotu Kumar, Jonson Kumar, following the statement of the deceased’s daughter-in-law Savitri Devi.

During investigation, the police unearthed several loopholes in the case, forcing Lakhisarai Superintendent of Police Sushil Kumar to constitute an SIT probe into the matter. The police later nabbed two suspects — Shiva Kumar (native of Jehanabad) and Sujit Kumar (Khagaur) — and recovered a county-made pistol, two cartridges and two cell phones from their possession.

Shiva confessed to his involvement in the murder and revealed the name of his associate Mohammad Raza, who is still at large.

Lakhisarai SP told HT that Shiva was released from jail four months ago and was in touch with Ranjit. “Ranjit faces three murder charges, including that of Ramakant Yadav (former director of Munger-Jamui Central Co-Operative Bank), ex-cop Rambilash Yadav,” said the SP. Ramakant is said to be close to Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.

The police official said that Ramakant was gunned down on October 11, 2017. In 2018, the first witness in that case, Ramvilash, was also killed by the assailants. Later, on March 22, 2021, the prime eyewitness in the double murder case, Bikash Yadav, was murdered by unknown assailants just hours before he was about to record his statement before the court.

Explaining how they zeroed in on Ranjit, the SP said that soon after Mahendra’s murder, the police kept surveillance on Savitri and caught two of the suspects, who later revealed the entire conspiracy.

The Lakhisarai SP further said that Ravikant and Manikant are key witnesses in the Bikash Yadav murder case, and Ranjit wanted put pressure on Yadav’s family to withdraw the case, and when they refused, he hatched a conspiracy to murder Mahendra.