Police arrest five more in Jamshedpur murder case, recover arms

Jamshedpur, Jan 29 (PTI) Five people, including the mastermind of a seven-member gang allegedly involved in gunning down a 35-year-old man here 10 days ago, have been arrested with arms and ammunition, a senior police officer said on Wednesday.

While the mastermind and four others were arrested on Tuesday, two others — Raunak Singh from Delhi and Nikhil Singh from the city — were apprehended earlier and sent to judicial custody on January 27, Jamshedpur SSP Kishore Kaushal said at a press conference.

Santosh Singh was shot dead by motorcycle-borne assailants near his residence on Gurudwara Road in Mango here on January 19.

"The victim tried to escape and entered a nearby house, but the killers chased and shot him dead," the SSP said.

The SSP said a team headed by deputy superintendent of police (HQ-1) Bhola Prasad Singh was formed to apprehend the perpetrators under the supervision of SP (City) Kumar Sivashish.

The team arrested prime accused Rohit Dixit, Shubham Kumar and Vimal Gope alias Takla from National Highway-33 on Tuesday night and recovered firearms and a scooter used in the crime, Kaushal added.

Police also arrested Vivek Kumar Tiwary alias Lakhi Tiwary and Ankit Sharma alias Bretlee from Mango area for carrying out a recce of the victim and conspiring in the killing, the officer said.

Regarding the motive, Kaushal said, "Rohit’s father Pashupati Nath Dixit was murdered by the victim and his brother Jitendra Singh along with their accomplices on September 11, 2014." The duo had also been jailed for Pashupati's murder, the SSP said. Jitendra Singh had contested the recent parliamentary elections as an independent candidate but lost.

"The brothers had been jailed for Pashupati’s killing. To avenge the 11-year-old incident, Rohit hatched a conspiracy and killed Santosh," the SSP added. PTI BS MNB