Police nabbed Rana Ranvijay Singh alias Bablu Singh, one of the main accused in the Brijnathi Singh murder case, from Fatuha on Monday.
Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaaj said: "The arrest of Ranvijay Singh in the Brijnathi Singh murder case is a big catch. Ranvijay had absconded after committing the crime. Raids had been conducted at different places to nab him."
According to police, Ranvijay had been hiding at various places. They received a tip-off that Ranvijay was last seen in Fatuha and in Vaishali and was plotting a crime. Police formed a team and nabbed Ranvijay and another criminal, Vishwavijay Singh, accused in the murder of Primary Agricultural Credit Society president Manoj Singh. A pistol and two live cartridges were seized from their possession.
The police claimed that both Ranvijay and Vishwavijay were accused in more than six criminal cases.
Ranvijay's arrest took the total number of arrests in the case to seven. Earlier arrests were those of Roshan Kumar, Sunil Kumar, Satyaprakash alias Satya, Gorelal Yadav, Bulkan Rai and Sunil Rai alias Langra. Cops were looking for Ranvijay and Munna Singh.
The murder of Brijnathi Singh was well-planned. The police are still looking for Munna.
A senior police officer said: "With the arrest of Ranvijay, police have nabbed some key persons behind the murder. During interrogation, Ranvijay revealed the names of some other persons behind the incident. But the name cannot be disclosed owing to investigation."
The murder of Brijnathi Singh that took place on February 5, 2016, posed a big challenge to Patna police as a sophisticated weapon, an AK-47, was used in the murder. The LJP man was killed near Kachchi Dargah under the jurisdiction of Didarganj police station.
Sources in the police department said the post-mortem report of Brijnathi confirmed that 27 bullets had been pumped into his body, including 13 in his head.
The police had claimed that the LJP leader and muscleman Brijnathi Singh's murder on the outskirts of Patna was the fallout of a turf war between two gangs in the Raghopur diara (riverine belt).
Following the incident, the Opposition BJP and the LJP had even demonstrated against the Nitish Kumar government calling it as a "political conspiracy" behind the murder.
Brijnathi's son, Rakesh Roshan, had unsuccessfully contested the 2015 Assembly elections against RJD chief Lalu Prasad's son and deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav.
Also, apart from Rakesh Roshan contesting elections against Tejashwi, Brijnathi held sway in Raghopur diara politics for nearly two decades.
Brijnathi, who was also mukhiya (headman) from Fatehpur from 2001 to 2006 had even fielded his wife, Veera Devi, against former chief minister Rabri Devi in the 2000 Assembly polls but lost.
Sources in police claimed that apart from political rivalry, business rivalry over sand-mining in diara areas was also said to be the reason behind murder of Brijnathi.
