Sonwanti Devi, a resident of Paras village in Patna rural area, lodged a complaint with Pipra police station in connection with the murder of her husband Umesh Mahto on March 5, 2012. She named Shambhu Singh alias Tarun Singh, Himanshu Singh, Lambodar alias Samman Singh and Tunni Singh as accused in the FIR

Girish Prasad Singh, a resident of Munnachak in Patna, submitted a written complaint at SK Puri police station, stating that his brother Satyendra Prasad Singh, a transporter and a JD (U) worker, left with former MP Vijay Krishna in Boring Canal Road locality on May 24, 2009 but did not return. His body was recovered from the Ganga on June 11, 2009

In the first case, none of the accused named in the complaint were involved in the murder of Umesh. One Ajay Kumar Singh, a resident of Barah village under Punpun police station in Patna district, was. Scientific investigation revealed Ajay killed Umesh to avenge his father death.

Ajay was detained after the seizure of a .32 revolver from him. His name did not figure in the FIR lodged by Devi. But the bullets retrieved from Umesh’s body were fired from a .32 bore revolver.

The ballistic report submitted by the forensic science laboratory in Patna on March 6, 2012 confirmed that the bullets were fired from Singh’s revolver.

“During investigation it came to light that Ajay killed Umesh to avenge the murder of his father,” said director-general of police Abhayanand.

The DGP said Ajay was arrested on April 24 on the basis of the scientific evidence gathered against him.

“Ajay’s arrest is fallout of scientific investigation. Total 10 cases across the state were taken up for in-depth investigation and scientific evidence was gathered against the accused. The arrests were made after substantial evidence was collected against them,” Abhayanand said.

In the second case, Girish claimed that Satyendra went with former MP Vijay Krishna on May 23, 2009. Girish reportedly dropped Krishna near Guinea Motors on Boring Canal Road and told him that he would go to Fatuha for bypoll electioneering after taking rest at his residence. But Satyendra did not return home. His body was recovered from the Ganga near Dulli Ghat on June 11, 2009.

The post mortem was conducted on June 12, 2009. The autopsy report revealed Satyendra was shot dead. Subsequently, the police recovered bloodstained clothes from Krishna’s flat at Jula Apartment. The blood samples and the parts of body preserved for investigation (read exhibits) were sent for DNA test to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Hyderabad.

The forensic report received on June 17, 2009 confirmed that the blood samples collected from the flat matched with blood group of Satyendra.

“During investigation it came to light that Satyendra was shot in the flat and subsequently his body was dumped in the river to destroy the evidence,” an investigating officer said, adding that the scientific method of probe helped the police crack the case.

In Patna, two different police wings — one for investigation and another for law and order duty — have been created on the directive of chief minister Nitish Kumar for flawless probe of cases. In the past 25 days, over 130 cases have been taken up for investigation by the special investigation wing.

“We have decided to adopt the same system of investigation in other districts soon,” Abhayanand said.