The Special Investigation Team, probing the murder of Dhanbad Congress leader Niraj Singh, on Sunday questioned Siddharth Gautam, younger brother of Jharia MLA and prime accused Sanjeev Singh, even as the party demanded a CBI probe into the orchestrated killing.
Siddharth, named in the murder FIR along with his brother and three others, was taken to Saraidhela thana around 6pm. He was questioned by DIG Saket Singh, SSP Manoj Ratan Chothe, city SP Anshuman Kumar and others for an hour after which he was released.
Earlier in the day, Congress's national spokesperson Ajoy Kumar addressed the media for 15 minutes at Circuit House and punched holes in the pattern of probe being conducted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT).
"The main accused (Sanjeev) is an influential leader of the ruling party; so, the state is stopping short of arresting him," Kumar, a former IPS officer, said and added, "In every murder case, the key suspect is arrested first. But here, the SIT is busy arresting insignificant people instead of rounding up the prime accused just because he is an MLA."
Singh Mansion scion Niraj (35), his personal assistant, a bodyguard and driver were gunned down in Saraidhela, barely 2km from the seat of power in Dhanbad, on March 21. A day later, family members accused another Singh Mansion scion, MLA Sanjeev who is Niraj's elder cousin, of conspiracy and murder.
The SIT, formed at the behest of the state police chief, detained 13 people for questioning and finally arrested three on charges of murder, conspiracy and illegal arms possession. The trio - Jainendra Singh, Sanjay Singh and Dhananjay Singh - are all loyalists of the accused MLA.
While Jainendra and Sanjeev are family friends, Sanjay is the elder brother of the MLA's close aide, deceased Ranjay Singh, whose murder in January was said to be planned by Niraj. Dhananjay, on the other hand, is an active member of a trade union led by the BJP MLA.
Continuing his tirade against the BJP government over other issues, Congress spokesperson Kumar said development in Jharkhand only takes place on paper.
"The government can invest more than Rs 100 crore in organising a global meet for investors in Ranchi, but it cannot repair the Telmacho Bridge, which connects the two most industrially significant districts (Dhanbad and Bokaro) of Jharkhand," Kumar said.
The lifeline bridge on river Damodar had developed cracks on March 6, but promised repairs are yet to begin. "In the absence of the link, heavy vehicles are compelled to take long detours," the former MP of Jamshedpur added.
Kumar also charged the state government with failure over the Lalmatia mines cave-in in Godda, which left 18 dead on December 29 last year. Five were still missing when rescue operations were suspended.
"The government failed to investigate the disaster and penalise the guilty only because most of the victims were poor labourers hired from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh," he said.
