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5 yrs after Bihar girl Navruna went missing, CBI makes first arrest
Rakesh Kumar Sinha Pappu was arrested following his interrogation at the CBI office in Patna, his friend Pankaj Kumar said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested a ward councillor of Muzaffarpur Municipal Corporation on Monday night in connection with the mysterious disappearance of Navruna Chakravorty, a 14-year old girl, from the north Bihar town in 2012.
Rakesh Kumar Sinha Pappu was arrested following his interrogation at the CBI office in Patna. Pappu was on Tuesday produced in the court of special CBI judge AK Dixit at Muzaffarpur, who remanded him to 14-day judicial custody.
Pappu had visited the CBI office on Monday after receiving summons from the premier investigating agency.
Though, this was the first arrest made by the CBI in the case, three persons, including an electronic media journalist, were taken into custody by the district police after a month of the incident. They are now released on bail.
Navruna had gone missing from her house on Jawaharlal Road in Muzaffarpur, 71 km north of Patna, on the intervening night of September 17 and 18, 2012. The CBI was assigned the investigation on the direction of the Supreme Court after the district police as well as state-run criminal investigation department (CID) failed to make a breakthrough in the case.
On November 26, 2012, a skeleton was found from the drain near the house, and, on the basis of forensic tests, CID said it was that of Navruna, but the family did not accept it.
On the basis of DNA report, CBI on August 20, 2014, told the court that the skeleton belonged to Navruna.
READ| PMO initiative: CBI set to probe Navruna case
The agency had interrogated some big names involved in illegal land deals as well as a couple of politicians, including former MLA Bijendra Chaudhury, after the recovery of the skeleton during the cleaning of the drain on the direction of Pappu.
A CBI official, not wishing to be identified, said the role of Pappu was suspicious as he was present when the exercise to clean the drain was being carried out.
“It is not a common practice. Secondly, the cleaning was done only in front of the missing girl’s house. So, we have quizzed Pappu many times. We have also sought a detailed report on Pappu from the district police. He is a habitual offender as many cases, including one of train loot, are pending against him,” the official said.
Meanwhile, Navruna’s father Atulya Chakravorty welcomed the arrest, saying it was big day for him as the CBI had “finally done something” in the case.
