DFO assassin held, confesses to crime

Kharwar, in his confessional statement, said that he met the DFO, who was out on an inspection in the forest area in Rohtas, in Rehla Village at 12 pm and had a 45-minute long heated discussion with him along with seven others.

Kharwar said that they had asked the DFO to give them some cut from the road works being carried out by the Forest Department in the area, but the DFO had refused.

Sources said that in his confessional statement he also mentioned that after the discussion got out of hand, he had hit the DFO repeatedly with a lathi.

Sources further said that Kharwar confessed that it was not a planned killing but a chance encounter. He said that later they took the DFO deep into the forest leaving the unarmed bodyguards and rangers behind. Kharwar then shot the DFO and dumped his body there.

The police now hope that Kharwar will make a judicial statement and stand by his statement. On the basis of the information he gave to the task force, two MCC bunkers were raided at Chatdih village under Amjhor police station in Kaimur forests.

Extremist pamphlets, a tent and utensils were also recovered by the STF.

According to sources, the police is now looking for Nirajav Yadav over the incident. Singh, from the 1991 IAS batch, had been in Shahabad for one year, and was killed in February.

He was acknowledged by his peers and others to be one of the few brave IAS officers around. According to reports, Singh had done his best to curb the mining and quarry mafia in the notorious Sasaram area.