Vaibhav Tewari murder:IT officials quiz father of one accused

After the murder, cops had carried out a raid at the residence of both the accused. They recovered Rs 30 lakh cash from Santosh Shukla’s residence (father of Suraj Shukla).

Income tax officials detained the father of one of the accused in the sensational murder of Vaibhav Tewari on Monday to quiz him about Rs 30 lakh cash recovered from his residence during a police raid.

I-T officials took Santosh Shukla along with them to the Income Tax office for interrogation.

Vaibhav Tewari, 28, who was also a village pradhan, was shot dead by two SUV-borne miscreants -- Vikram Singh and Suraj Shukla -- on December 16. The victim’s father, now with the BJP, had served as SP MLA from the Domariyaganj constituency of Siddharthnagar district.

On Monday, two officials from the income tax department met AK Shahi, station officer, Hazratganj police station, at his office to interrogate Suraj Shukla. But, as Suraj Shukla was absconding, the I-T officials expressed their desire to interrogate Santosh Shukla, who was already present at the police station. Cops had detained him to ascertain whereabouts of his son Suraj.

I-T officials took Santosh along with them to the Income Tax office for interrogation.

“Keeping such large amount of cash at home is not a crime if you have bonafide sources to prove that the cash is not ill-gotten,” said an official.

Meanwhile, cops were still clueless about the whereabouts of Vikram Singh and Suraj Shukla despite the fact that several police teams had been engaged to arrest the two accused. STF sleuths were also on the trail of the duo.