A history-sheeter and gangster, facing 12 criminal cases and wanted in the murder case of West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari's former aide Chandranath Rath, surrendred before a court in Uttar Pradesh's Ballia on Thursday.
The development came amid ongoing searches by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the Chandranath Rath murder case.
According to officials, Gyanendra Pratap Singh alias Monu surrendered before a Gangsters Act court in an old case and was subsequently remanded in 14 days' judicial custody and sent to the district jail in Mau.
Bansdih Road police station SHO Vansh Bahadur Singh said the accused is facing 12 criminal cases apart from the Chandranath Rath murder case.
He said a case under the Gangsters Act was registered against the accused at the Bansdih Road police station in 2023.
The accused's counsel, Kaish Singh, said Gangster Court Judge Harish Kumar has sent his client to judicial custody for 14 days.
He said the court issued a non-bailable warrant against the accused on May 25 as he had failed to appear in the case.
The lawyer also claimed that CBI officials were mounting pressure on the accused to surrender and had recently seized CCTV footage from his residence as part of their investigation.
Meanwhile, the accused's wife, Mahima Singh, maintained that her husband is innocent and expressed confidence in the CBI probe.
"My husband has been falsely implicated in the Rath murder case.
We have full faith in the CBI and expect justice," she told PTI.
She said CBI and police teams are frequently visiting their residence and questioning the family members.
A video and a Facebook post purportedly made by the accused, appealing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for a fair probe into the Rath murder case, had gone viral on social media recently.
In the social-media post, the accused alleged that three persons, including Mukesh Kumar Singh and Sandeep Singh from his village, were the masterminds behind Rath's killing and that another individual, Nishant Singh, was also involved.
Rath was killed in West Bengal on May 6.
(With inputs from PTI)