Police: 7 held for murder; conspiracy hatched in jail

PRAYAGRAJ : The Prayagraj police on Tuesday arrested seven persons involved in the murder of a contractual employee of education department under Karchhana police station on March 17.

SSP Ajay Kumar said the deceased Mangala Prasad Pandey, 42, was returning home on his bike when some persons in a SUV hit him near Bhirpur. They later abducted him and stabbed him to death. His body was found in the fields and a case was registered against one Rajdhar Dwivedi of Masika village of Industrial Area. The abandoned SUV was later recovered near the crime scene.

After investigations police arrested Rajdhar Dwivedi, Mahendra Patel, Sachin Patel, Sachin Yadav, Vijay Yadav, Anuj Tiwari and Rahul Valmiki.

Questioning from Dwivedi revealed that the murder was committed on behalf of his sonin-law and notorious criminal Raja Pandey who is presently lodged at Fatehgarh Jail.

Raja is an accused in the murder of Mangala Prasad’s father Lalta Pandey who was gunned down at his residence in 2018. Mangala was pursuing the case and Raja feared that he may be sentenced by the court. The SSP said Rajdhar Dwivedi’s son Rahul arranged contract killers with help of Raja’s aide Deepak and provided them shelter.

It has also came to fore that Raja was using internet calling to contact Deepak and his brother-in-law Rahul from jail. Raids are now being carried out to arrest Deepak and Rahul, the SSP added. Raja Pandey hit the headlines in 2012 when he shot dead SHO Bara police station Rajendra Dwivedi. Pandey and his aides fled but were later caught after an encounter.

SP trans-Yamuna Saurabh Dixit said one of the accused Rahul Valmiki hails from Dehradun and is cousin of notorious gangster Neeraj Valmiki who was gunned down in a gang war some years back.