Bastar police unravel BJP leader’s contract killing conspiracy, arrest 11 suspects

RAIPUR: In a chilling revelation, Bastar police have cracked the case of the contract killing of BJP leader Asim Rai in the insurgency-ridden tribal district of Chhattisgarh. They have arrested 11 individuals linked to the sinister plot and intensified their hunt for the primary assailant.
The police disclosed a disturbing pact, with Congress workers allegedly orchestrating a Rs 7 lakh deal with the hired gunmen.Adding to the gravity of the situation is the revelation that some of the accused were implicated in a previous attempt on Rai's life in 2014, where he narrowly escaped with bullet injuries.
BJP district vice president and former Nagar Panchayat president Asim Rai was riding a two-wheeler in a market in Pakhanjur, when he was shot from behind and he fell off the vehicle and succumbed to death.
Bastar range inspector general of police P Sundarraj had constituted a special investigation team of 18 members to probe the murder from all angles and in less than a week, police have arrested eleven accused involved in the murder committed under political enmity.
State deputy chief minister and home minister Vijay Sharma on Friday reached Kanker to meet the kin of deceased BJP leader and assured justice and all assistance to them. “It’s a very sad incident and wrong, it should be only law that prevails and those who don’t abide by law will be definitely chased till punishment. We will ensure to maintain law and order with full strength.”
Addressing the media, Kanker SP Divyang Patel said that the accused bought pistol worth Rs one lakh and the main shooter Vikas Talukdar is still at large. Talukdar along with Gopi Das had shot Rai, he said.
“Police have seized Rs 3.5 lakh and a bike from the possession of accused and it’s a clear case of political conspiracy where money was given for contract killing of Asim Rai. The Nagar panchayat president and Congress leader Bappa Ganguly, Congress coporator Vikas Pal and Jitendra Bairagi had fixed the murder bid as they were going to face no-confidence motion in the municipal body on January 15, which was initiated by Rai. In fear of going out of power and related consequences, Vikas , Bairagi and Bappa together hatched the plan and approached shooters,” SP said.
BJP workers on January 7, had alleged involvement of the two in murder and demanding their arrest, they had attacked the residences of the three, leading to tension in the town. After the arrests were made, BJP workers demanded capital punishment for them.
SP said that the investigations are still underway and more arrests will be made.
“All accused are from Kanker district and both the shooters were involved in earlier murder attempts. We have scanned all the CCTV footage of the town, hundreds of people were interrogated and calls were scanned that led to arrest of eleven accused,” SP said, adding that they were arrested under sections of Arms Act.