PATNA: A joint team of Bihar Special Task Force (STF) and Bhojpur police on Monday arrested Chandan Singh, the main accused in the murder of a retired assistant customs commissioner, Ram Kumar Singh, from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International airport at Dum Dum in West Bengal.
Singh was taken into custody when he was trying to flee to Nepal in an apparent bid to hoodwink the police in the sensational murder case. Sources said that the STF and Bhojpur police team nabbed him from the airport premises. He was evading arrest ever since the incident took place on Thursday (October 15).
"Chandan has been arrested and is being taken to Ara on transit remand," Bhojpur SP Awadhesh Dixit told the media. He said another suspect in the case Manoj Singh alias Vicky had already been arrested. "Police will interrogate Chandan after his arrival to Ara," he added.
Chandan has earlier been accused of land grab. Police suspect the former customs assistant commissioner’s murder linked to land dispute. The deceased’s family had alleged that the victim was threatened with dire consequences by Chandan and his associates over a plot of land in a prime location.
Manoj Singh, an Ara-based YouTuber, has allegedly amassed huge wealth through unlawful means in the last three-four years.
Ram Kumar Singh was attacked by three motorbike-borne criminals while leaving home for morning walk. He was rushed to local Sadar hospital where doctors declared him brought dead. His murder sparked off protests by local residents, who demanded immediate arrest of the culprits.
The protestors also had put up a road blockade on the Ara-Patna Road. The road blockade was lifted on assurances of SP. The deceased’s son Amit Kumar alias Goldy had alleged in the FIR that his father was killed over a land dispute.
The deceased family had also accused station house officer (SHO) of Mufassil police station Ram Kalyan Yadav and revenue employee Vishnu Deo Singh of being hand-in-glove with the prime accused Chandan Singh.
Chandan’s wife Chandani Singh, however, pleaded her husband’s innocent and said that her husband was being falsely implicated in the case.
She, however, admitted that her husband had differences with the deceased over a plot of land. "I am staying with my parents for the last three months," she said in a video recorded statement.
