BHOPAL: Around 15 hours after BJP leader Nilesh Rajak was shot dead in broad daylight, the two accused, Akram Khan and Prince Joseph, were injured and arrested following a brief gun battle with police in the Kajrwara area of Katni district early Wednesday.
According to Additional Superintendent of Police Santosh Dehriya, the encounter occurred around 2.30 am after a high-speed chase based on specific intelligence inputs. Both accused sustained bullet injuries and were apprehended following retaliatory fire by the police.
“A high-speed chase of the duo ensued, during which the two men fired on the police. The police team responded identically, resulting in four rounds of fire. Both accused sustained serious injuries and were subsequently arrested. They were later referred to the adjoining Jabalpur for treatment in police custody,” Dehriya said.
Multiple police teams were constituted to track and nab the accused, who had allegedly shot dead Nilesh Rajak (30) near a nationalised bank branch in Kaimor town of Katni district at around 11 am on Tuesday.
Formerly associated with the Bajrang Dal and currently a ruling BJP leader, Nilesh Rajak was considered close to local BJP MLA and former MP minister Sanjay Pathak.
Hours after the broad daylight killing, Pathak had said that the angry residents and family members of Nilesh Rajak wanted Yogi Adityanath government-style justice in the matter. Yogi Waala Nyaya Chahiya (We want a Yogi Adityanath government like justice), the BJP workers and residents accompanying Pathak had raised slogans in Kaimor town on Tuesday.
The murder is suspected to have stemmed from a month-and-a-half-old dispute between Akram and Nilesh, which had earlier led both sides to file counter FIRs at the Kaimor police station.
The former minister alleged that about a month and a half ago, Akram had threatened to kill Rajak inside the police station, but the local police failed to take any action.
Based on the demands of the bereaved family, the SP of Katni district, Abhinay Vishwakarma, had suspended local police station in charge Arvind Chaubey and a head constable in the matter and attached them to the district police lines.
Just around an hour after the killing, Nelson Joseph, the father of one of the accused, Prince Joseph, had died by suicide at his house.
