A poster of the function to mark Mahendra Singh’s death anniversary. Pix: Shahnawaz Akhtar

Giridih, Jan. 15: The state, particularly Giridih, is gearing up to observe the fourth death anniversary of mass leader and three-time CPI-ML MLA from Bagoder Mahendra Singh tomorrow, even as the CBI continues to grope in the dark about his killers.

Singh was one of those leaders who had earned an iconic status because of his contribution to the society. From the road to the Assembly, he raised issues related to the welfare of the people. He was so popular that he had never lost his Assembly constituency since the first time he won it in 1985.

But the light went out of Giridih when the MLA fell to the bullets of unknown assailants during the first Assembly polls of Jharkhand on January 16, 2005. The slain leader’s wife Shanti Devi had accused then superintendent of police Deepak Verma Dhanwar MLA Ravindra Rai and coal mafia Manager Rai of having a hand in the murder.

Soon after the murder, large-scale protests compelled the government to order a CBI probe. The CBI went through several aspects of the case and took several steps to nail the killers.

First, the sleuths released sketches of the murderers, interrogated more than hundred witnesses, visited several important places, but the fact remains that they are yet to file a chargesheet in the case. The case file might be gathering dust and the CBI preoccupied with other assignments, but the supporters of the MLA cannot forget him as easily.

In the memory of their beloved leader, thousands of people across Jharkhand gather to pay a tribute to him on January 16 every year. “If Mahendraji had been alive, the politics of Jharkhand would not have been such a sham. Every leader used to act responsibly because of him. They knew fully well that there was one Mahendra Singh, who would raise questions about their acts”, said Sandeep Kumar, a resident of Bagoder. “Forget filing a chargesheet, the CBI has not even registered a case,” said Vinod Singh, the leader’s son.

“Rather, the primary investigation of the police and the CBI concentrated on shielding the high-profile people, whose names had cropped up in the case. They were never out to find the killers and the mastermind in the first place.”