The Rohtas police have arrested two people in connection with the murder of a Dainik Bhaskar journalist on November 12, PTI reported on Tuesday. The two accused were arrested on Monday night by the Special Investigation Team probing the case. The Director General of Police for the region confirmed the development to the news agency.
Patna Zonal Inspector General NH Khan identified the two accused as Radhika Raman Rai and Manish Singh. Singh was on the police’s wanted list in connection with three other cases. He is a resident of Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, and Rai hails from Rohtas district.
The investigators have also seized a motorcycle that was used in the crime. Dharmendra Singh was shot dead at a roadside tea stall in his village Amra talab in the district on November 12.
The police lodged a First Information Report against six people, after the deceased’s family filed a complaint. “We have constituted a Special Investigation Team and a chargesheet will be submitted on a priority basis,” Khan said.
Local journalists suspect that the assailants were hired by the stone crusher mafia. “Singh has been writing stories in his paper on the regular police raids on illegal stone crushers in the area, which might not have gone down well with the powerful mafia involved in the trade”, a journalist said.
In May, Rajdeo Ranjan, a senior journalist with another Hindi daily, was shot dead in Bihar’s Siwan district. The Central Bureau of Investigation is still investigating the case.
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