The mystery surrounding the murder of Assam youth Pritam Bhattarcharjee has caught the Government Railway Police (GRP) on the wrong foot despite the arrest of three persons for their alleged involvement in the crime.

Sources said GRP officers have failed to establish any link between the murder and the information they have gathered from Ram Krishna Singh, the 30-year-old resident of Khagaria arrested for his alleged involvement in Bhattacharjee’s murder. On the basis of his account, Bajrangi Yadav and Jiten Mandal of Bandehra village in Khagaria were arrested on Saturday.

Additional director-general (ADG) of police (rail) Parsh Nath Roy on Sunday admitted that there was no “solid evidence” of the murder that could match the versions of the arrested persons.

Bhattacharjee, who holds a master’s degree in physics and was going to New Delhi by Awadh-Assam Express for a PhD enrolment exam, was traceless since July 9 when he gave chase to a group of youths who had snatched his bag at Naugachia station in Bhagalpur district, about 200km east of Patna. His body was found under near Kataria station on July 15.

The sources said Singh reportedly admitted to his involvement in the crime along with seven other pickpockets operating on trains passing through the Katihar-Mansi section of East Central Railways. All these persons had cases of petty crimes against their names in GRP stations like Katihar and Baruni.

The GRP had announced a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh for anyone coming up with information about the criminals involved with the murder. Following this, one Jaiprakash Mandal of Rangra handed over Singh to the Naugachia sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Ramashankar Roy. Jaiprakash claimed that when he was returning to Naugachia from Katihar by a passenger train on July 20, he caught Singh trying to steal money from his shirt.

On Saturday, the ADG asked Mandal why he had not handed over Singh to GRP personnel on the train despite being asked. The sources said Mandal told the ADG that he had not much faith in the GRP and, hence, called up the SDPO.