Working on some tip off, the top district officials of Siwan on early Wednesday morning raided the Siwan jail. This further ignited the speculations that former RJD MP Mohammad Shahabuddin was under the lens of police for his alleged role in the murder of a journalist Rajdeo Ranjan on Friday last.
Victim’s close relatives as well as the BJP leaders have publicly accused the RJD strongman for his direct involvement in the gruesome murder of the Siwan bureau chief of Hindi daily Hindustan. A few people arrested on suspicion are also reportedly have links with the former MP who is also a member of the RJD’s national executive constituted only last month.
The Siwan DM and SP led the raid and searched various wards and reportedly some mobile phones and knives were seized during the raid. There was no official word as to what was recovered from the cell of Shahabuddin who is lodged there for over a decade on various criminal cases including murder.
Sources said the call detail records of one of the arrested persons led the police to raid the jail. The call records, sources said, showed 36 calls were made from the jail premises to one of the arrested persons and the calls had been made before the murder of Ranjan as well as later on. Some calls were made when its location was found close to the Siwan railway station, where the journalist was shot dead.
While the State Government has recommended the case to be investigated by the CBI and issued a notification on Monday, there was still no word from the Central probe agency. “With this decision (of handing over case to the CBI) the Government has admitted that people have lost faith in the police,” said senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi. He demanded that Shahabuddin should be removed from Siwan jail and shifted to some other central jail. Modi said speculations of RJD leader’s involvement in the murder was getting stronger with the arrest of some people who are associated with the former MP.
After interrogation of the arrested persons, the police have come to conclusion that professional shooters had been used in this crime and they might had been called from other States like UP and West Bengal. Siwan SP said that the SIT constituted to probe this murder was also in touch with the UP and West Bengal police and seeking information from them. The SP has himself interrogated most of the arrested persons and said he has got some links but refused to reveal them.