Rupam Pathak

Patna/Purnea, Feb. 24: The CBI today formally took over charge of the investigation into the murder of BJP legislator Rajkishore Keshari, about 45 days after the Bihar government’s recommendation for a probe by the premier investigating agency.

CBI joint director Javeed Ahmad told The Telegraph that an FIR had been registered with the Patna unit of the agency in connection with the murder of Keshari at his Sipahi Tola house in Purnea town on January 4.

He said a CBI team would visit Purnea on Friday and collect the documents related to the murder of the MLA. “The members of the team will first talk to the investigating officer in the case and then record the statement of the persons concerned,” Ahmad said over phone from Lucknow. He added that if required, they would contact senior district police officials as well.

Asked about the ambit of the probe, Ahmad clarified that the investigating officer would look into the possible reasons for Keshari’s murder. “We have been handed over the probe into the murder case lodged with the Kazanchi Haat police station in Purnea district,” he said.

The government had recommended a CBI probe on January 8 under pressure from Opposition party leaders and the representatives of different women’s organisations, who came out on the streets to vent their ire against alleged discrimination in the probe by the district police into the allegation of sexual exploitation of Rupam Pathak, prime accused in the murder case.

Highly placed sources said the visiting team would meet Rupam in the Purnea divisional jail. Pathak was taken into custody soon after she attacked the MLA with a knife on the premises of his ancestral home on January 4.

Pathak, principal of Rajhansh Public School, was later overpowered by the MLA’s security guards and subsequently beaten up by the leader’s supporters. The police had seized the knife from Pathak besides getting bank passbooks and other important documents of her school.

The police later arrested Nawlesh Pathak, a Purnea-based journalist, charging him with conspiracy. Nawlesh had first published the report about alleged rape of Rupam by the slain MLA and his associate Bipin Rai.

The case generated much heat after deputy chief minister and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi called Rupam a blackmailer and refused to hand over the probe to the CBI. Modi, however, had to budge under pressure and wrote to chief minister Nitish Kumar on January 7 asking him to hand over the investigation to the agency.

The bail petition of Rupam was filed by her Patna-based advocate Dinesh Kumar in the court of the Purnea chief judicial magistrate (CJM), Daya Lal Prasad. The bail petition was later dismissed.

Earlier Rupam and Nawlesh Pathak were brought to the court under tight security. They were produced before the court of the CJM.

A large number of onlookers had gathered in the court when the accused were brought from the divisional jail.

In connection with the complaint case filed by Rupam’s former advocate Hemant Kumar, Rupam told the court that she had signed the Wakalatnama but she had not given her consent for filing a complaint case against anyone.

She told the court that all content mentioned in the complaint was fabricated without her consent and even before filing such complaint she was not informed by Hemant.

In the court of the CJM, she was asked about the content of the case and she denied the contents of the complaint, advocate Dinesh Kumar told The Telegraph in Purnea.