Bihar Police’s murder probe 'reveals' string of killings planned from Tihar Jail

SP Santosh Kumar said his investigation had revealed Vikash Jha’s hand in the Srinarayan Singh’s murder and he had twice written to Tihar authorities with mobile numbers apparently used by Jha to plot murders from behind the bars.

The conspiracy to kill property dealer Nawal Kishore Singh, brother of a Janta Dal Rastravadi (JDR) candidate from Sheohar assembly seat, was hatched in Tihar Central jail, Bihar police said on Saturday. Not just that, the police said at least three more assassinations in Bihar were linked to plots hatched inside the national capital’s Tihar jail.

Bihar Police have claimed that at least four murders are linked to criminals lodged inside Delhi’s Tihar jail. (Biplov Bhuyan/HT Archive)

A member of Santosh Jha’s gang has told Bihar police that the plan to eliminate the property dealer was chalked out by Vikash Jha alias Kalia, a gangster lodged in Tihar Jail who was once a close associate of dreaded gangster Santosh Jha, who was killed while serving a life term in the murder case of two engineers while appearing in a Sitamarhi court on August 28, 2018 in connection with one of the 20 criminal cases he faced.

Police said Kalia used Whatsapp to contact other key members of the gang outside the jail, Vishal Jha alias Raja and Vijay Jha, from inside the Tihar jail. His associates created a Facebook Page “Book-Bro” to chat with each other and Kalia frequently spoke to them using Whatsapp since February this year.

Police said that two sharp shooters later identified as Kanhaiya Singh and Abhishek @ Mukul Mishra gunned down Nawal on June 30 on the busy Sitamarhi-Muzaffarpur national highway after forcing him to stop his bike in Ahiyapur police station area of Muzaffarpur district. The assailants spent about a minute at the spot after the first shot, firing repeatedly to make sure that Nawal was dead.

Muzaffarpur police chief (SSP) Jayant Kant told HT that three criminals including one Ayush Singh of Sitamarhi, who were involved in the murder, have been arrested and sent to judicial custody.

Ayush confessed that he was tasked with tracking Nawal’s movement by Kalia’s men identified as Raja, Abhishek and Kanhaiya, who had rented a house in March near the Medical overbridge at Muzaffarpur to carry out his killing. He also named some other criminals identified as Babul and Raghu, who he claimed were also placed by a tea stall near zero mile on the Sitamarhi-Muzaffarpur national highway for two months to track Nawal Singh’s movements, police said.

Nawal’s wife Sadhana Devi later told police that her husband and son used to receive threats from a Facebook page named Book Bro, which carried pictures of AK-47.

SSP) Jayant Kant said police had written to Facebook requesting information about the page used to issue threats and allegedly plot the murder. “So far, the conspirators and shooters, numbering around 10-15, are absconding. Raids are on,” the SSP added.

Jayant Kant also revealed that Kalia was also a prime accused in the murder of Nawal’s brother Srinarayan Singh, a JDR candidate. JDR was part of the Upendra Kushwaha-led political alliance that included Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM and BSP. Srinarayan was shot dead along with a supporter in Sheohar’s Hathsar village during the assembly poll campaign on October 25, 2020. Nawal Kishore Singh was apparently a witness to his brother’s murder and had vowed to avenge it.

The then Sheohar superintendent of police (SP), Santosh Kumar, currently posted at Saran, said his investigation had revealed Vikash Jha’s hand in Srinarayan Singh’s murder and he had twice written to Tihar authorities with mobile number, apparently used by Jha to plot the murder from behind the bars.

During the probe into Nawal’s assassination, police claims to have also got clues to the murders of advocate Rajesh Ranjan alias Mani Jha, who was killed on June 16 at Sitamarhi, and the son of a school owner Awadhesh Jha, who was gunned down on May 16 at Dostiyan village under Purnahiya police station in Sheohar district. They say both these murders were also planned from inside the Tihar jail, however, they were not ready to divulge the details.