Chhattisgarh: Absconding BJYM leader held in murder case from Visakhapatnam

A leader of BJP's youth wing was arrested in connection with the murder of a 20-year-old man in Chhattisgarh's Durg district, police said on Wednesday.

Lokesh Pandey, who is general secretary of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) Durg district unit, was apprehended from Visakhapatnam in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday and brought here this morning, they said.

With this arrest, seven out of the eight accused have been arrested for this murder, which apparently happened over money dispute related to betting, they said.

On the night of June 18, the deceased identified as Ranjit Singh and his two friends were in Sai Nagar area of Bhilai town when Pandey and his seven aides attacked them with sharp edged weapons and a baseball bat, Durg Additional Superintendent of Police Sanjay Dhruv said.

While his two friends managed to escape, Singh died on the spot in the assault, he said.

''Subsequently, the main accused Pandey and others clicked selfies with the dead body of Singh on their phones and also shot its videos,'' he said.

Next day, Singh's one friend lodged an FIR in this connection, following which a joint team of the district's Anti Crime and Cyber Unit (ACCU) and personnel from Chhawani police station conducted raids to nab the accused, he said.

Of the eight accused, six identified as Sona alias Josh Abraham (22), Aman Bharti (24), Biselal Bharti (27), Pritam Singh (22), Bhupendra Sahu (23) and Nikhil Sahu (19), were arrested from separate places when they were trying to escape, he said.

However, main accused Pandey and Nikhil Angel had managed to flee.

During a raid at Pandey's house at Ramnagar in Bhilai on Monday and three shops in its front portion, police had recovered a baseball bat used in the crime and cloth with blood stain on it. Subsequently police sealed the shops and also bulldozed illegal construction, including stairs, in their front portion with the help of the local municipal body, he said.

Acting on a tip-off, a Durg police team went to Visakhapatnam and rounded up Pandey from there on Tuesday while efforts were on to trace the eighth accused Nikhil, he said.

The preliminary investigation revealed that Pandey had some old dispute with the deceased over money related to betting and had even threatened to kill him in the past, Dhruv said, adding that further investigation into the matter is underway.