BJP leader shot dead in Jharkhand hinterland by assailants on bikes

A BJP leader was shot dead in Murhu block of Jharkhand’s Khunti district by six bikeborne assailants on Saturday.

This is the second such incident reported in the state in less than a month wherein a leader from the ruling party was murdered in the tribal hinterland. On October 6, Maoist-turned-BJP leader Manoj Nagesiya was shot dead in Simdega’s Lachragarh.

On Saturday night, 45-year-old Rajendra Mahato, a block-level office bearer of the party, was shot dead at a stone’s throw from his house in Darla village, around 60km from capital Ranchi.

Police said six bike-borne assailants called him out of his house at 7pm and opened fire. While five of them managed to escape, the villagers caught hold of one and reportedly beat him to death. But the villagers have claimed that the gang member was murdered by one of his aides soon after they shot Mahato. The deceased gang member is yet to be identified.

“The gang of Vinod Topno is possibly behind the murder. We have recovered two countrymade pistols and two motorcycles used to execute the crime,” said Khunti superintendent of police, Ashwini Kumar Sinha.

Rajesh Topno alias Malinga, the leader of the gang suspected to have planned and executed the killing, was arrested earlier this year, police said. His brother, Vinod, was leading the gang in his absence, they added. “We cannot reject the possibility of it being a killing for levy,” said Sinha.

The police are conducting raids at various hideouts of the gang but no arrests have been made yet.

RANCHI: POLICE SAID THAT

SIX BIKEBORNE ASSAILANTS CALLED RAJENDRA MAHATO OUT OF HIS HOUSE AT 7PM ON SATURDAY NIGHT AND OPENED FIRE, KILLING HIM ON THE SPOT