Two persons were arrested on Monday for their alleged involvement in the June 23 murder of an elderly couple inside the latter’s apartment in the state capital.
Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Amrit Raj said four men, all associates of Manish, the grandson of Ashok Malviya (65) and his wife Savitri Devi (56) who were killed, were involved in the crime. Two others are still at large.
The arrested have been identified as Jeetan Sharma and Sashikant.
The police said the case dates back to 2008, when Manish, a gangster, and his associates were involved in an attempt to murder and Arms Act case.
“Manish was a part of a gang, several members of which have been arrested. The same area (Sahpur) had another gang, which was led by one Rikki. In 2008, the two gangs were involved in a tussle when Manish and his associates decided to come to a compromise. One day the groups met up, but Manish had other plans. He was carrying a firearm. The arrested men have said that during dialogues, when an altercation broke out, Manish took out the weapon and fired a shot at Rikki. A member of the Rikki’s gang was injured and one of the members of Manish’s group was arrested,” Amrit Raj said.
“Malviya used his sources and ensured his grandson did not go to prison. But Jeetan and Srikant (Sashikant’s elder brother) had to spend six and 13 months in jail respectively. However, their lawyers told them that if they did not sort out the matter with Rikki outside the court, they could be convicted again. Both of them visited Malviya’s house several times, asking for money (to pay it to Rikki), so that the case could be sorted out, but Manish’s grandfather declined. Since then, they have been angry and they argued that they should not have been sent to jail because Manish, and not them, had fired the shot,” the SSP said.
On June 23, Jeetan, Sashikant and two others went to Malviya’s house. “When they were denied money once again, they decided to eliminate the couple. They were first strangled and then their throats were slit after they lost consciousness. The four left the house after committing the crime,” the SSP said, adding that raids were on to nab the two others. The knife with which the crime was committed was found.
On the other hand, the police have failed to make any breakthrough into Sunday’s robbery at two wholesale medicine shops on Govind Mitra Road. The police said they have identified some of the criminals on the basis of CCTV footage and would arrest them within a couple of days. “The case will be cracked soon,” an officer said.
