CBI picks up 3 more in Dubey case

They picked up three, including the husband of a local ward representative Kaushalya Devi who is a member of the Rashtriya Janata Dal. Her husband, Nandu Paswan, picked up last night was regarded as an important ‘‘catch.’’ He had reportedly been staying in Katari with his in-laws house after being blacklisted by the police in his village near Paria, close to Mughalsarai.

A local RJD leader, who did not want to be named, said that Nandu Paswan had a criminal background and was a petty contractor doing work in Panchayat areas. Katari falls within a Panchayat area despite being on the outskirts of Gaya.

‘‘He earned his living doing small panchayat jobs like laying brick roads or water lines,’’ he said.

The other two rounded up during last night’s raid included Kaushalya Devi’s brother. The identity of the third person could not be ascertained.

With these, the total number of persons rounded up in the Dubey murder case is now seven.

These arrests and raids have gripped Katari village with fear. The word ‘‘spy’’ has suddenly become the buzzword here. ‘‘The place has now become full of police spies and no one knows who will be picked up next,’’ said Kanti Devi, mother of Babloo who is one of the four arrested and taken to Delhi.

The fact is most people in this village didn’t even know who Satyendra Dubey is until the arrests.

Ramdasi Devi, mother of Uday Mallah, one of the four arrested, forces you to accompany her to her house. ‘‘Do you think that this humble hut could belong to such a big criminal who murdered Dubey? My son is only 16. He is a scavenger and makes some money by selling scrap.’’

She points out to an empty cot marked for her son while she and the other children sleep on the mud floor under an open sky.

‘‘We don’t know who this Satyendra Dubey is,’’ she says, ‘‘but the mystery curtain over his killing should be lifted immediately.’’

Equally dazed is the mother of brothers Mantu Paswan and Tutu Paswan arrested by the CBI. Mantu is 15, Tutu 17. Their mother says that Mantu had gone to Surat in search of jobs six months ago and came back to the village only last month.