Cops find road rage angle, kin say no way
ACCORDING TO THE POLICE, THE ACCIDENT IN NOVEMBER LAST LED TO HEATED ARGUMENTS AND A SCUFFLE BETWEEN THE TWO
PATNA: The Bihar Police Wednesday claimed to have cracked the sensational case of murder of IndiGo Airlines official Rupesh Kumar Singh with the arrest of a youth from Patna and said it was a fallout of a road rage incident, a claim promptly dismissed by the victim’s family who urged chief minister Nitish Kumar to order a fresh probe.
Singh was shot dead on January 12 outside his apartment in Punaichak locality of Patna.
Addressing a press conference where the arrested accused, identified as Rituraj alias Rohiraj Singh (28), was presented before media persons, Patna’s senior superintendent of police (SSP) Upendra Sharma said three more accused were still at large and a manhunt was on.
Police said they had recovered an Apache motorcycle with a forged number plate, a countrymade pistol, four live cartridges and clothes used in the crime.
Police said they had examined more than 200 CCTV footages, 4,000 call data records of cellphones and interrogated more than 75 people, including a prominent contractor and a JD (U) leader, to crack the case. They said the case was cracked primarily with the help of CCTV footages and call data records.
SSP Sharma said Rituraj, a graduate in geography from Sunrise University in Rajasthan, hatched a conspiracy to eliminate Rupesh Singh after a run-in with him in November 2020, when his motorcycle collided with the IndiGo official’s SUV near the U-turn at LJP’s office between the Patna airport and Patel Roundabout.
According to the police, the accident led to heated arguments and a scuffle between the two. When Rupesh Singh threatened Rituraj with police action, the latter sped away from the spot because he was driving a stolen bike.
The SSP said Rituraj later chased Rupesh Singh and noted his vehicle registration number. Before the media, Rituraj admitted so.
The SSP said the accused is the only son of Manoranjan Singh, owner of a brick kiln at Naubatpur in rural Patna, and has no criminal history in and around Patna, but is a vehicle lifter. The officer said he had fled to Jharkhand after committing the crime.
Citing CCTV footage and call data records, the police said Rituraj attempted to kill Rupesh four times the day before the murder.
According to SSP, footage of a CCTV installed on an adjacent street suggested that the assailants were four in number and rode two motorcycles. After committing the crime, they reached near Saguna more via Ashiana-Digha road.
INDIGO
The police also produced Rituraj’s father before the media. He revealed that his son was working in a private company in New Delhi till 2016 and later shifted to Bihar. He is married and is father of an 18-month-old girl. A few months ago, when Manoranjan asked his son to mend his ways, he threatened him of dire consequences.
However, family members of the slain IndiGo official, including wife Nitu Singh, dismissed the road rage theory and alleged high-profile involvement in the murder.
Talking to TV channels, she admitted that her husband’s SUV collided with a bike in November last, but claimed the biker managed to escape from the spot without any altercation.
She said she suspected that the police were hiding the real story to save some high-profile persons. “My husband was never involved in any scuffle. Rituarj’s statement is totally baseless and false. No one can shoot my husband for simple issues,” she told a TV Channel.
Earlier, on January 19, director general of police S K Singhal had said a contract for airport parking lot could be the reason behind the murder.