Brother duo arrested for pradhan murder

The CBI is investigating the murders of the pradhan,his brother Suresh and Kunda circle officer DSP Ziaul Haque,all of which took place on March 2.

CBI chief information officer Dharini Mishra,who confirmed the arrest of the two,said the investigating team has also recovered SIM cards which were used in the murder conspiracy and added that the recovered empty shells and the SIM cards have shown the direct involvement of Ajay Pal and Vijay Pal in pradhan Nanhey Yadav’s murder. “But the investigation is going on to unravel the larger conspiracy behind the murder,” he added.

The case registered in the pradhan’s murder had named Ajay Pal and his father Kamta Pal,besides former UP minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya’s driver Guddu Singh and his brothers Rajeev and Ajit.

Another case lodged in the murder of pradhan’s brother,Suresh,had named Ajay’s brother Vijay,his nephew Sanjay,Guddu Singh and latter’s aide Raj Kumar Pasi.

With today’s arrest,the total numer of persons arrested in the three cases have gone up to four. Guddu and Rajeev were arrested by UP Police two days after the pradhan’s murder and were later taken into police custody remand by the CBI. But the agency has yet to figure out the role of Guddu and his brother in the pradhan’s murder.

Sources said that questioning of eyewitnesses who do not belong to Nanhey Yadav’s family and subsequent interrogation of Ajay and Vijay showed their direct link to the shootout in which pradhan was shot dead. While the eyewitnesses confirmed their presence at the murder spot,the two arrested men helped the agency in finding two country-made firearms and fired cartridges from the house of one of their relatives.

The agency has also recovered SIM cards which were purchased on forged names and addresses and were being used by Ajay and Vijay to talk to some suspects. The CBI has scrutinised the numbers and the details of the calls retrieved from the SIM cards.

Sources added that any direct involvement of Kamta Pal,father of the arrested men,has not surfaced so far,but the investigation is still on.

An official said that the investigation has found enmity over the possession of a property in Balipur had led to frequent altercations between the families of pradhan and Pal over the last six months. The accused allegedly planned the pradhan’s murder after Nanhey Yadav and his brother Suresh,along with their associates,attacked Kamta Pal’s house on the occasion of his grandson Sanjay’s marriage in February and humiliated him in the presence of his relatives.

Ajay and Vijay entered into a conspiracy and killed the pradhan with help of other associates,sources said.