Prem Singh, a named suspect in the Saket Gupta murder case. His body was found on Thursday near railway tracks in Kumhrar. Picture by Sachin

A day after chief minister Nitish Kumar praised police for “prompt action” in the Saket Gupta murder incident, a named accused in the case was on Thursday found dead near the railway tracks in Kumhrar under Agamkuan police station.

The body of liquor trader Prem Kumar Singh was recovered by the police around 12.30am on Thursday. While the cause of death is yet to be ascertained, police are keeping mum over what led to the sudden demise and if at all it was a murder.

Prem’s death raises question over the promptness of the cops, who did not care to detain the former despite him being named among the accu-sed in the murder of businessman Saket Gupta on May 7.

Saket’s mother Geeta Devi has accused Prem of threatening her son over some busine-ss issue in the FIR lodged with the Agamkuan police station.

Strangely, two days passed but the police neither detained Prem (as is the norm) nor knocked on his door for inquiry. Prem was present at his Sadiqpur residence until Wednesday evening.

Had the police been alert enough to take Prem into custody, not only would the latter have been saved but some information on Saket’s murder could also have been revealed.

“Saket’s murder was a big case for cops. A named FIR was lodged the very day the murder occured and Singh was one of the accused. Why didn’t the cops try to detain him when he was at home? What were they waiting for? In any other case, the police act fast when it comes to detentions and arrests. They made no delay in forwarding a person to judicial custody in the blade attack case in Patna City, even when more attacks were being reported in the area,” a source said.

The Telegraph tried to contact all police officers with the same question but none answered the calls. Repeated attempts were made to reach Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP), Patna City superintendent of police (SP) and station house officer, Agamkuan. Even the calls made to the landline number of the Agamkuan police station were not answered.

Singh left home at 7.10pm on Wednesday. He could not be traced after that. Around 12.30am on Thursday, Singh’s injured body was recovered near the railway tracks in the Kumhrar area. The location is just half-a-km from Kumhrar Park where Saket was shot.

The family members of Prem alleged police inaction led to his “murder”. Police, meanwhile, refused the family’s claim that Prem was shot.

“Cops are sure there is no bullet injury. If the family have allegations against the police, they can always give the same in writing and the matter will be investigated,” Patna City SP Kim said earlier on Thursday.

Deputy superintendent of police (Patna City) Sushil Kumar is on leave and SSP Amrit Raj expressed shock at “inter-related” murders in just three days.

“Right now, it will be premature to comment on Prem’s death as the investigations are on. The post-mortem report is awaited. What can be said is that Prem’s name figured in the FIR lodged by Saket’s mother. Saket’s murder was a contract killing and the police are trying to arrest three more persons involved in the case,” the SSP said.

Singh was into the liquor business for more than 10 years. He had over 10 beer bars in Patna City.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Chandan, the elder son of Singh, said: “My father is dead. How can I blame anyone when I don’t know what happened? Saket’s family had named my father, too, in the FIR. I can do the same if I want. People are talking about business rivalry, but I don’t believe the same as my father was into this business for years now and the other party was just a novice. How can there be any competition?”

Sources claimed there could be “one man” behind the two murders. “May be there is a third player who didn’t want the cops to question Prem in Saket’s murder case. This seems to be very complicated case,” a source said.

Saket, a cousin of a DG-rank officer, was shot in daylight by three assailants. The murder had drawn huge media attention, as the police were successful in nabbing two of the alleged assailants after a chase.