Patna police claims to have solved murder of airlines official

An airlines official whose murder inthe Bihar capital last month had caused a furore, was sprayedwith bullets by a petty criminal nursing a grouse since theirvehicles collided in the city several weeks earlier, policeconcluded on Wednesday.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Patna, Upendra KumarSharma made a claim to this effect at a crowded pressconference where he also produced Rituraj, the alleged killerwho answered frantic queries of journalists with a black clothwrapped around his face.

However, the family members of the slain Indigo stationmanager Rupesh Kumar Singh were not convinced with the policetheory on the high-profile murder case and so was theopposition.

Rituraj said he had previously made ''two or three''attempts on the life of Rupesh Singh, as he had been seethingwith rage ever since he barely missed getting crushed underthe wheels of the latters SUV on a date he could not recallexcept that it was ''around Deepawali'' and in the vicinity ofthe office of Lok Janshakti Party.

The LJP state headquarters is situated at Wheeler Road, afew hundred metres from the Patna airport where Singh went forwork.

According to the SSP, Rituraj was an auto-lifter, had beeninvolved in theft of many motorcycles, and was assisted in theaudacious murder by three of his associates for whom a searchwas on.

Notwithstanding the district police chiefs claim thatcracking the case had involved sifting through reams of CCTVfootage and other types of rigorous investigations, theopposition flew into a rage.

In a furious tweet, leader of the opposition TejashwiYadav alleged that the police had come out with a ''scapegoat''(bali ka bakra) to let off big fish and likened the story of a''road rage'' that simmered for weeks to the script of a ''C-grade film''.

The family members also reacted with incredulity. Singhsbereaved wife Neetu told reporters, ''I demand furtherinvestigation. The motive could not be just road rage''.

Anju Singh, a sister of the deceased, admitted to be inthe know of her brother having been involved in a road mishapbut rubbished Riturajs claim that Rupesh Singh had ''abused''him, asserting ''he was too timid'' for picking up a quarrel.

The SSP said six bullets were pumped into Singh on thefateful January evening while he was inside his car, waitingfor gates of his apartment in Punaichak locality, barely akilometre from the Chief Ministers residence and Raj Bhavan,to open.

He also said the shots were fired from a country-madepistol and the weapon has been seized.

Rituraj, according to the SSP, had fled Patna after theattack and gone into a hiding at various places in adjoiningstate of Jharkhand.

He returned recently under the impression that the paceof investigation has slackened and he would be able to escapethe police radar.

The murder of Singh, known to be friends with manyinfluential people of Bihar by virtue of his professionalstanding, had evoked widespread alarm.

Besides drawing criticisms from the opposition, whichinsisted the murder was indicative of a collapse of law andorder, the killing also led to demands for a CBI inquiry fromsome quarters, including a Rajya Sabha member of the BJP, apartner in the ruling dispensation.

Political personalities from almost all parties had beenmaking a beeline to his home here and ancestral residence inSaran district since the murder hit the headlines.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who had been buffeted withattacks as he holds the Home portfolio, summoned DGP SKSinghal two times in as many weeks, sending him back withinstructions for cracking the case at the earliest.

The pressure had become evidently too much to handle forthe seasoned politician known for primness of conduct, whoerupted in anger at journalists when they sought to nag himwith queries about the case on the sidelines of a function.

Various theories had been doing rounds in the localmedia including a possible dispute over awarding of tender formanaging the parking lot at the airport.

Controversial former MP Pappu Yadav also gave a free reinto his rabble rousing proclivities, coming out repeatedly with''evidences'' that brought into question the role of someinfluential bureaucrats whom the deceased was supposedlychummy with.