Murder accused Shahzada Khan at East Singhbhum SSP Amol V Homkar’s office on Friday and (below) the confiscated pistol. Pictures by Animesh Sengupta

In a pre-dawn raid on Friday, one person involved in the sensational Monday murder of Tata Steel employee Satyadev Yadav was arrested.

Shahzada Khan (32), nabbed from near Parvati Ghat in Bistupur thana around 4am, allegedly rode the bike on which the killer sat pillion and fired the lone bullet that felled Yadav from a distance of 30 metres late on Monday evening.

Yadav, a lineman on one of Tata Steel’s locomotives that ferried raw materials, had been standing near the driver’s cabin and looking out to check if tracks were free.

Shahzada, a resident of Kapali, Chandil police station area, was found with a 9mm pistol and two live cartridges. The bullet that killed Yadav was also 9mm.

Five men figure in Yadav’s murder, Shahzada and his pillion rider, as well as three others with them. Though police have named them — Afsar Khan and Md Saqueel, residents of Adityapur Muslim Bustee; Md Badku of Musabani and Md Kadir of Nimdih — they have not clarified who fired the fatal shot.

East Singhbhum senior superintendent of police Amol V. Homkar said the shooting was planned by Afsar Khan, a dreaded criminal who runs a gang in Jamshedpur and adjoining Adityapur.

“During grilling, Shahzada confessed that his brother-in-law Afsar Khan, through the shooting, had planned to create panic among everyone, from rival gangs to Tata Steel’s department of raw material management, possibly to ease the way for him and his boys to pilfer the company’s raw materials, especially coke, more freely,” Homkar said.

Shahzada apart, all four are absconding. “We have stepped up raids in and around the city to arrest the four others,” Homkar said.

What Yadav’s murder also highlights is the rampant theft of Tata Steel raw materials, which feeds a parallel economy on the fringes of the city and small industries of Adityapur.

Replying to media queries, Homkar said they would hold a meeting with the company’s security personnel to bring about an incident-free loco train service between the Tata Steel works and the company’s siding at Adityapur.

Raw materials such as coke, coal, dolomite, iron ore and manganese are carried regularly from the company’s Adityapur-based raw material siding to the company.

But, making this three-kilometre-long journey is a matter of risk for employees deputed on the loco, including linemen like Yadav.

Various criminal groups such as those led by Afsar Khan, Md Kadim, Jaglu Gupta and Ratan Lohar pilfer raw materials from wagons and sell them to sponge iron factories in Adityapur.

How can raw material theft in transit be checked? Tell ttkhand@abpmail.com