Biz student ‘key conspirator’ in Vikram Sharma murder

Dehradun: Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) and Dehradun Police on Monday claimed to have arrested the "key conspirator", a first-year BBA student at a private university in Noida, in the murder of 54-year-old Jharkhand gangster Vikram Sharma, who was shot dead outside a gym at Silver City Mall on Rajpur Road on Feb 13. Accused Mohit alias Akshat Thakur was nabbed from an apartment in Greater Noida. Police said he allegedly arranged accommodation and other logistics for the assailants after the incident.Dehradun SSP Parmendra Dobhal and STF SSP Ajai Singh, addressing a joint press conference in Doon, said a black SUV allegedly used in the crime was recovered from Mohit's possession. He was initially detained on suspicion and brought to Dehradun for questioning. During interrogation, his alleged role in the conspiracy surfaced and he was formally arrested.According to police, Mohit told investigators that he had been staying in Greater Noida with two associates. He also disclosed that the plan to kill Sharma was hatched months earlier by Ashutosh Singh (26) and his associates -- Ankit Verma (26), Vishal Singh (28) and Akash Kumar Prasad (28) -- along with two others who remain absconding, said police."The accused had initially planned to eliminate Sharma in Jamshedpur and later in Noida but were unable to execute the plan as he was always accompanied by several people," a police officer said.Investigators said Verma joined the same gym on Rajpur Road frequented by Sharma nearly three months before the killing to track his routine. On the day of the murder, he allegedly informed Ashutosh that Sharma was at the gym, following which Ashutosh and Vishal allegedly shot him outside the premises. The assailants then fled on a rented motorcycle and a scooter from Haridwar and later escaped in the SUV to Noida and reached Mohit's flat.Police officials said the SUV was registered in the name of one Yashraj, proprietor of Sarika Enterprises in Jamshedpur.Meanwhile, SSP Dobhal has announced a reward of Rs 25,000 each for information leading to the arrest of the remaining six accused. "The case was solved through coordinated efforts, including analysis of CCTV footage and technical surveillance," Dobhal said, adding that STF officials found the conspiracy to be premeditated and spread across multiple states.On Feb 19, one Rajkumar Singh was arrested from his residence in Jamshedpur after tracing financial transactions linked to the rented vehicles. He allegedly made a UPI payment in Haridwar for the motorcycle used by the assailants. Sharma was shot dead on Feb 13 outside a mall in Dalanwala area. He was named in more than 50 criminal cases, including the 2007 murder of Sreeleathers co-owner Ashish Dey in Jamshedpur, and was out on bail. He had been living in a rented apartment in Dehradun for over a year.