Co-conspirator of Asaram witness murder arrested

BAREILLY: On the basis of clues provided by Narayan Pandey, prime suspect in the July 10 murder of a witness in the Asaram rape case, Shahjahanapur police have nabbed co-conspirator Arjun, alias Pradeep. The man had reportedly been hiding in Ghaziabad. He was taken to Shahjahanapur, where he is being interrogated.
The arrest came after Pandey told police of possible hideouts of his accomplice Arjun.Policemen accompanied Pandey to Jodhpur, Delhi and Ghaziabad to gather evidence. A police party also managed to track Arjun to his Ghaziabad hideout. He was arrested on Sunday and brought to Shahjahanpur on Monday.
DIG Range RKS Rathore said, “Arjun, alias Pradeep, was the man accused of first conducting the reconnaissance at the house of the girl who accused the self-styled godman of rape. He also similarly conducted a recce at the home of the witness in the case. He met witness Kripal Singh on several occasions, along with Pandey and two other men named Sanjay and Raghav. He too had attempted to dissuade the slain witness from deposing against Asaram.”
Rathore added that Arjun had been booked earlier, too, along with Pandey, on charges of breach of peace.
In his dying declaration, Kripal Singh named three men, Arjun, Sanjay and Raghav, as men he suspected were behind the murderous attack. Investigating officer and inspector, Sadar Bazar, JP Tiwari, said the police had been on the lookout for all three men ever since Kripal Singh’s murder. Tiwari said policemen will soon have Sanjay and Raghav also in custody.
Kripal Singh (35) was shot by two motorcycle-borne assailants on July 10 as he stepped out of him Gadrana home near the Sadar Bazar police station in Shahjahanpur to buy grocery, the third witness deposing against Asaram to be killed.