Nine of the twelve persons arrested on Saturday in connection with the murder of rice trader Narendra Singh Hora (56) last week have revealed that the group had also planned to target other businessmen operating from Upper Bazaar.
During the forensic examination of the cellphone of one of the accused Chhotu Hussain, Ranchi police have recovered several photos of vehicles belonging to businessmen.
The identity of at least one of the influential traders of Upper Bazaar, suspected to be a prospective target, has been established.
A selfie, where the accused is seen posing with the businessman’s car, was found in Chhotu’s mobile.
Police sources refused to disclose the name of the trader. “We are investigating whether the businessman was one of the targets. However, the photos give a strong hint that the gang were identifying their target through their vehicles. They had also clicked a photo of Hora’s bike. We are trying to recover some photos that have been deleted,” sources said.
Chhotu, a native of Palamau district, used to track the movement of traders at Upper Bazaar where he used to work as a fruit seller.
He had also video-recorded Hora’s movement.
Notably, the mobile helped police solve another loot case in which Rs 8 lakh was looted from Surendra Prasad, an employee of Pandra-based wholesale pulse trader Gopal Prasad Khetan last month. Police have found photos of the trader and his employee in Chhotu’s mobile, too.
“Other traders were on their hit list. They were also involved in the Pandra loot case. We are investigating the matter. The accused will be soon taken on remand for questioning,” SSP Anish Gupta said.
Ranchi police had on Friday evening disclosed that they have nabbed Baban Khan, Chhotu Hussain, Mehadi Hassan, Rashid Ansari, Md Asif Alam, Sahjad Alam, Raja Adil, Birsa Kacchap and Shiv Rajak during overnight raids that continued till Friday morning. Four pistols, 11 rounds of live bullets, two bikes and eight mobile phones were recovered from their possession.
Man shot dead
One Sukra Oraon (30) was shot dead at Sakarpur village under Lapung thana area, around 35km from Ranchi, on Friday evening. Police said Sukra and his friend Manish were playing football at a ground when two bike-borne persons came there and whisked him away to an undisclosed location before gunning him down. No arrests have been made yet, police said.