Jamshedpur, June 27: The fast-track court (V) of Anil Kumar Arya today convicted Harish Arora for conspiring to murder transporter and ?family friend? Ashok Sharma.

The conviction of Arora assumes significance as he was the one who lodged the FIR with Bistupur police on September 18, 1998, after the murder.

The court acquitted two of the accused, Vikram Sharma and Vijay Kumar Singh alias Mantu, after giving them the ?benefit of doubt?. It will pronounce the sentence on June 30.

Ashok, owner of Gulshan Roadways, was gunned down near Sacred Heart Convent School close to Hill View Road in Bistupur early on September 18.

In this connection, police registered a case of murder and conspiracy against one Balaji Balkrishna on the basis of the FIR lodged by Arora. In the complaint, Arora accused Balaji of conspiring to murder Ashok. The police detained Balaji and grilled him for four days.

Sub-inspector Vishweswar Nath Pandey looked into the case and on January 28, 2000, submitted a chargesheet against one Ravi Chowrasia for allegedly shooting Ashok.

In 2001, gangster Akhilesh Singh abducted mobile merchant Om Prakash Kabra. While investigating this case, the police found out that Ashok?s murder was the result of a conspiracy seemingly hatched by Arora.

The police also came to know that Ashok?s widow, Madhu Sharma alias Pinki, had married Arvind Sharma, the elder brother of Vikram Sharma, a business associate of Akhilesh.

The police then handed over the case to the CID, which submitted its chargesheet against Arora and others in January 2002. Before that, CID inspector Kanhaiya Upadhayay arrested Arora in October 2001.

In its chargesheet, the CID accused Arora of planning the murder of Ashok in a bid to grab his property and gain control of the transport company. But it could not be certain about the shooter and had also given a clean chit to Chowrasia.

Further investigation led to the recovery of firearms from the possession of Ranjit Chowdhary and Paramjit Singh. The sleuths sent the weapons to a Calcutta laboratory along with the pellets recovered from the victim?s body for a ballistic report. But the findings did not help the CID identify the shooter.

Akhilesh, one of the alleged conspirators, remained absconding for a long time and his trial began later in another court. Another accused, Pinki, has managed to obtain a stay order from Jharkhand High Court.