JD(U) leader, wife among 5 held in gym trainer’s attack case

Patna Police on Thursday arrested five persons, including former Janata Dal (United) leader and his wife for their alleged involvement in connection with the murderous attack on gym trainer Vikram Singh, 26, on September 19, officials said

Patna Police on Thursday arrested five persons, including former Janata Dal (United) leader and his wife for their alleged involvement in connection with the murderous attack on gym trainer Vikram Singh, 26, on September 19, officials said.

Image for representation. (File photo)

The arrested were identified as physiotherapist Dr Rajiv Kumar Singh, his wife Khushboo Singh, a shooter, a liner and another accused. Rajiv earlier held the post of state vice-president of JD(U) medical cell and was removed after his name cropped up in the attack case.

Patna Senior Superintendent of Police, Upendra Sharma confirmed their arrest and told HT that the police will address the media and share more details.

The gym trainer was shot at by unidentified criminals on Saturday morning when he was on his way to the gym in the Patna Market. The unidentified criminals had pumped five bullets into his body.

Police said that Vikram named Dr Rajiv and his wife as accused of the attack on him. Following his statement, the police detained Rajiv and his wife from their Patliputra Colony residence and released them after preliminary questioning.

During the investigation, it was revealed that Vikram and Khusboo knew each other since January this year and had called each other as many as 1,100 times since then. Police claimed that contract killers were hired to eliminate Vikram while the arrested former leader and his wife are the masterminds behind this conspiracy. They allegedly paid ₹3 lakh for the attack on Vikram.

The CCTV footage police have gathered from the crime scene also suggested that unidentified criminals were behind this incident.

Audio of a conversation, allegedly between Dr Rajiv, Vikram and Khushboo, went viral on social media in which the couple is heard threatening Vikram with dire consequences. The couple also made references to transactions of some money during their conversation. The audio is stated to be about three months old.

Vikram’s family members claimed that he earlier survived another attack.

Dr Rajiv runs a clinic at Boring Road. He allegedly threatened to eliminate Vikram due to his relationship with Khusbu.