Jamshedpur, May 8: Mohammad Halim, an informer in the Michael murder case, was arrested today on charges of misguiding the police with wrong information.

Halim, a business partner of the Michael Maxwell, was arrested from his office in Sakchi. According to superintendent of police Arun Kumar Oraon the arrest was made on the basis of statements made by three eyewitnesses before investigating officer V.D. Singh.

Oraon said the eyewitnesses — Rakesh Kumar, Mukesh Kumar and Pintu Masih — had seen two gunmen shoot Maxwel on the Sakchi-Bistupur road near the Garamnullah barrack on August 20, 2002.

After the murder, Halim, who was riding pillion on the victim’s motorcycle, had a brief conversation with the killers. After the two gunmen left, Halim raised an alarm, the eyewitnesses were stated to have said.

According to Oraon, the probe took a turn after he replaced investigating officer inspector Abdul Khalique with Singh. Oraon had found flaws in the chargesheet which Khalique had submitted within the stipulated 90 days of the murder. Singh is also officer-in-charge of the Sakchi police station.

Oraon said fresh investigations have revealed that Maxwell was shot by criminals Ranjit Chowdhary and Tinku Banerjee. Choudhary is an associate of gangster Akhilesh Singh.