Pappu hired Rajan to kill Sarkar: Witness

PATNA: Cross-examination of Ravindranath Singh, a district committee member of the Purnia district unit of the CPM, was completed in connection with the Ajit Sarkar murder case in the court of ADJ XI J N Sharma here on Monday. Singh is an important witness in this case.
During his cross-examination, Ravindranath Singh said that the two persons — sitting Purnia MP Pappu Yadav and former CPM MLA from Purnia Ajit Sarkar — were political rivals.They had contested election against each other.
Singh said that in 1992, CPM had launched a land-grabbing movement in the district and that Pappu had supported the local landlords’ stand. Subsequently, Pappu was also charged with and jailed for killing an Adivasi boy and he was transferred to the PMCH on medical ground, from where he had gone to Purulia without obtaining permission of the court.
The issue of Pappu Yadav’s illegal visit to Purulia while still in judicial custody was raised by the then CPM MLA Ajit Sarkar in the state assembly, following which his guards were suspended, Singh deposed before the court.He further said that on June 8, 1998, he had received some information through one Subodh Yadav that Pappu had hired some criminal, called Rajan Tiwary, to kill Sarkar, which he had passed on to Sarkar.
He also said that following the passing on of this information to Sarkar, he (Sarkar) had visited the official residence of Purnia SP and discussed the issue with him. After meeting the Purnia SP, Sarkar had told him that the SP too had similar information and that the police were taking steps to nab the criminal.