'Wanted job on compassionate grounds': Son kills cop, chops off thumb to usurp property in Bihar; accused arrested

ARA: A 30-year-old man, the only son of a Jharkhand police havildar, allegedly killed his father and then severed his right thumb to prevent other family members from using his thumb impression to claim property, as he wanted to usurp the assets for himself.“The deceased havildar, Pashupati Nath Tiwari, was due to retire in Jan 2026. His only son, Vishal Kumar Tiwari, wanted to get either a job on compassionate grounds or his father’s retirement money by killing him. Vishal, a drug addict, conspired with his friend, Md Jishan Ahmad Jilani, a resident of Hazaribagh, to kill the havildar with a knife at his native village Bhagwatpur under Chandi police station in Bhojpur district in the wee hours of Dec 20,” said Ara Sadar SDPO-2 Ranjit Kumar Singh here on Friday.According to the police, Vishal had been conspiring to kill his father for the past two years to gain control over his retirement money and property. When Vishal’s wife came to know about the plan, she cautioned her father-in-law. However, the havildar, who was posted in Hazaribagh as a police vehicle driver, did not take the warning seriously.“The needle of suspicion pointed, right from the beginning of the police investigation, towards some family members when our technical team, the FSL team and other police personnel investigated the crime scene on the morning of Dec 20. After analysing the CDR of the seized cellphone, Vishal’s accomplice Jilani was first arrested from Hazaribagh and, on the information provided by him, Vishal was arrested from his native village in Bhojpur. They had thrown the knife and blood-stained jacket into the Sone river near Sandesh in Bhojpur,” Singh said.Police said both the accused had travelled by motorcycle from Hazaribagh to Bhojpur. After sneaking into the havildar’s house in the early hours of Dec 20, Vishal and his accomplice allegedly slit his father’s throat with a knife. They then cut off the havildar’s right thumb, fearing that other family members might use his thumb impression to stake a claim to the property, as Vishal intended to take possession of it himself.