After recovery of stolen arms on Saturday, police interrogated Excise Minister Jai Prakash Bhai Patel and his bodyguards at Hazaribagh Circuit House on Sunday.
Two AK-47 rifles along with five loaded magazines were recovered on a tip-off of Special Branch constable Navneet Kumar, who is also said to be involved in the arms theft case. Two AK-47 rifles with 150 rounds of ammunitions along with one service revolver with 35 rounds of ammunition were stolen from three bodyguards of the Minister on November 23. Hunt is still on for the 9 mm pistol and 35 cartridges.
Patel as well as Navneet was interrogated for hours on Sunday morning at the Circuit House in Hazaribagh. The police are looking for a middle man, identified by Special Branch constable Navneet Kumar, who played a key role in the whole episode. Navneet was arrested along with four other persons —Havildars Kishan Rai and Indra Kumar Chetri of the JAP-1 — including two private drivers of the vehicle being used by the security guards.
“We are investigating the case further and looking for a person who is said to have had hidden the arms in the bushes behind the guest house,” said Hazaribagh SP Manoj Kaushik. “We also talked to the Minister informally what he has to say about the incident and whether he suspected anyone for that,” added the SP. When asked about the possibilities of the Minister’s involvement in the incident, the SP said that nothing could be said unless any evidence is found against him.
The sources, however, confirmed that the indulgence of any other person, including Patel is not still clear in the case. It is Navneet Kumar on whose tip-off the arms were recovered from the bushes, hardly 100 metres behind the guest house on Saturday night. Upset over the allegations made by the political parties, Patel, putting question mark on the capability of the police department, has called it a lapse on the part of police. “After Ormanjhi incident, the DGP pulled out my old guards and had said that he will replace them with better ones,” said Patel.
“It is their responsibility to provide me security, not mine to provide security to them. The DGP must be asked why he deployed such people for security,” Patel added. He also accused the Opposition of maligning his image as they are scared of his increasing popularity in the area. Patel said he had also talked to the Chief Minister in this regard and has requested him to look into the matter.
Police, on the other hand, were not in a position to say anything on the issue saying the investigation is still on and the arrested bodyguards are being interrogated to reach out to the real culprit in the whole episode. “We cannot say anything in this matter as nothing is clear yet regarding the matter,” said DSP AK Singh. When asked about the Minister’s role in the whole episode he said it is all speculation made by the media and without getting any proof, nothing could be said in this regard.