Restaurant owner murder: Jharkhand Police arrest two after exchange of fire

Ranchi, Oct 20 (PTI) Jharkhand Police arrested two persons -- the main accused and a suspended policeman -- in connection with the murder of a restaurant owner, following an exchange of fire in Ranchi, an officer said on Monday.

Acting on a tip-off that the main accused, Abhishek Singh, was attempting to flee from Ranchi with his family, police set up checkpoints at several locations. During the operation, police spotted him and surrounded him near the ITBP camp in Kanke police station area on Sunday night, the officer said.

"Abhishek Singh sustained two gunshot wounds in both his legs following an exchange of fire with police. He is currently being treated at the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS)," Superintendent of Police (Rural), Praveen Pushkar said.

He said that they also arrested another person in the case, identified as Harendra Singh, who had supplied firearms to Abhishek.

"We nabbed both after a gun-battle around 10.30 pm on Sunday night in Kanke police station area. They opened fire on the police, and we returned fire, in which Abhishek Singh sustained injuries to his legs," the SP added.

Meanwhile, the SP said that Harendra Singh had previously been a sepoy in the Jharkhand Police. He has been under suspension for the last five years.

Abhishek confessed that Harendra Singh had provided him with a weapon. Harendra has criminal antecedents, and there are three pending cases against him at Argora, Gonda, and Patan in Palamu.

He added that Abhishek Singh is a resident of Bihar's Aurangabad and also has criminal antecedents. He said that the police have lodged FIRs at Kanke and Pithoria police stations against the two accused and two others, namely Prashant Kumar Singh and Amit Thakur.

"We seized four pistols, 31 cartridges, and a rifle, Rs 2 lakh in cash, two four-wheelers, and four mobile phones from their possession. Our investigation is underway into the case," he said.

A restaurant owner, identified as Vijay Kumar Nag (47), was shot dead after a vegetarian customer was allegedly served non-veg biryani in Ranchi on Saturday night. PTI RPS RG RPS ACD