CMO murders: Six more held from Gorakhpur

Gorakhpur zone Inspector General Bhawesh Kumar Singh said they were questioning Ashutosh Shukla and Pankaj Mishra and had informed the CBI about their arrest.

Diwakar Singh,Station Officer of Shahpur,who made the arrest,said that a CBI team had come to Gorakhpur two months ago looking for Shukla and Mishra. The agency had then taken Shukla’s associate Animesh Srivastava alias Animesh Lala with them for interrogation. Shukla,Mishra and Tavrez are contract killers and had been jailed earlier for murder and illegal supply of firearms,the SO added.

A CBI official confirmed that they were looking for Shukla and Mishra to verify the findings of Lucknow police regarding their role in the murder of the two CMOs. The Lucknow police had declared that Sudhakar Pandey,a gangster,was the prime accused in the two murders and the state government had announced a reward of Rs 1 lakh on him after Dr BP Singh’s murder in April last year.

The official said that on May 4 last year,the then DGP,Karamvir Singh,had announced the arrest of four men,identified as Shachindra Singh,Manvendra Singh,Ganga Maurya and Sahil Khan alias Pappu Chaudhary,all belonging to Gorakhpur,and said that they were arms suppliers who had close links with Sudhakar Pandey and could have supplied the firearm used for killing the CMOs.

Karamvir Singh then said that Ashutosh Shukla,Tavrez,Animesh Lala,Sanjay Singh alias Pintu and Varun Singh alias Gobari were absconding members of this gang.

The CBI official also said that they have been looking for one more shooter involved in the murder of the CMOs and Ashutosh Shukla and Pankaj Mishra may provide important clues.