Five people were arrested by the Bihar police on Wednesday in connection with the murder of a senior journalist in the state’s Siwan district. One of the five, Rohit Kumar, was identified as the main culprit in the killing of Rajdeo Ranjan (pictured above). Additional Director General of Police Sunil Kumar said he had admitted to the crime.
The 42-year-old local bureau chief of the daily Hindustan was gunned down by motorcycle-borne assailants on May 13 near Siwan railway station. The motive behind Ranjan’s killing is still uncertain. Police are trying to find out whether there were others involved in the crime. All five arrested are between 20 and 25 years old, and police said none of them have any prior crime record, Hindustan Times reported. The others arrested are Vijay Kumar, Rajesh Kumar, Vishnu Kumar and Sonu Kumar Gupta.
Police recovered a country-made pistol of 7.65 mm bore, two live cartridges and three motorcycles from the youths. The pistol matched the bullets recovered from the crime scene, the ADG said. The bikes have been sent for forensic tests.
Rohit was allegedly hired by Ladan Mian, who was initially suspected as one of the shooters. He was released from Siwan jail a mere fortnight before the journalist’s murder and had fled the town with his family two hours after the crime. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had earlier agreed to hand the case over to the Central Bureau of Investigation, but the Bihar police had said they would continue with the probe till the central agency took over.
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