Gaya police make it official: the suicides were twin murders

Mukendra Paswan and Sheonath Sahu, both residents of Katari, had died of poisoning in February after they had been questioned by the CBI. The incident was passed off as suicide with the victims’ relatives alleging that the CBI had a hand in the deaths.

‘‘Those were clear cases of murder, not suicide,’’ Singh said. ‘‘We came to this conclusion after detailed interrogation of witnesses and collection of evidence from the area.’’

Although he refused to name either the conspirators or give details of the case, sources in the Gaya police told The Indian Express that Babloo, alias Rajesh Mehtar, the PCO booth owner who is currently in CBI custody, is one of the prime suspects in this case.

Some more arrests are expected soon, said Singh.

Sources said that both Paswan and Sahu had a couple of drinks along with several others in Babloo’s telephone booth. Shortly after that, they began retching and were taken to the Magadh Medical College and Hospital where they died. A senior police official said that lethal Salphos poison tablets were dropped into their drinks. The police are now working on the motive: there is a strong suspicion that both the victims had possible knowledge of the Dubey murder case that would have compromised the suspects.

Meanwhile, the Bajrang Dal in Gaya has come out strongly in Babloo’s support describing him as one of the organization’s important functionaries in the Katari area.

Bajrang Dal leaders met the SP and other senior district administration urging that Babloo was being ‘‘framed.’’

But the raids continued today in the village with the CBI looking for some absconders, including one called Pintu. This afternoon, CBI officials, helped by the local police, had surrounded several huts in Katari searching for the suspects.

Babloo’s mother, Kanti Devi, a teacher in a government primary school near the Gaya international airport, was in tears. ‘‘Just before the police arrived someone knocked on our door saying the police are here and we should escape. But we decided to stay put because we had nothing to hide. Everyone in the locality will bear out that Babloo is not a criminal,’’ said Kanti Devi.